According to a report made by Calciomercato, Southampton and England midfielder James Ward-Prowse has been ranked as the 6th best under-23 midfielder in Europe this season.
This ranks him better than the likes of Jack Wilshere, Dele Alli, Eric Dier and of course, Paul Pogba. The ranking system works by averaging out each players rating out of ten from each match this season; Ward-Prowse’s being 6.272.
The England under-21 captain has had a solid start to the season, starting half of Southampton’s Premier League matches; coming off the bench in the other half of the matches. This has helped him rank as the 6th best under-23 midfielder in Europe, something not many fans will probably agree with, do the stats lie?
Two other Premier League stars are in the top ten with Everton’s Ross Barkley in 2nd and West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini in 3rd. Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Weigl has ranked as the number one under-23 midfielder in Europe with an average ranking of 6.792.
![Referee Andy Madley speaks to both Southampton Manager Tonda Eckert [GER] and Middlesbrough Manager Kim Hellberg [SWE] during the Southampton v Middlesbrough EFL Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg match at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton](https://media.readsouthampton.com/readsouthampton/sites/7/2026/09/esme56H7noXX-300x208.webp)
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