Top 10 Scottish Players

jonjoward1998
Apr 16, 2025
6 min read

Scotland have produced many great players over the years like Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Gordon Strachan and Alan Hansen.

But the majority of their greatest players came before the inception of the Premier League like the ones I mentioned and many others.

Like I mentioned when doing my top 10 Welsh and Irish players, very few Scottish players have reached the very top as they've either not been given the chance to play for one of the big clubs, or they haven't been the calibre of player that those big clubs are looking for.

A lot of the Scottish players that have played in the Premier League have been players who just do a job for their team without receiving a lot of praise including most of the players on the list.

And here it is:

Andrew Robertson

Charlie Adam

Gary McAllister

Darren Fletcher

James Morrison

John McGinn

Steven Fletcher

James McFadden

Scott McTominay

Ryan Fraser

James McFadden

McFadden had to be in 10th because he wasn't a prolific goal scorer in the Premier League.

He spent ten seasons in the Premier League with six of them being spent at Everton where he only scored 11 goals across two spells.

He scored a lot of goals before he came to the Premier League with Motherwell in the SPL, but in the Premier League he wasn't prolific enough.

I probably shouldn't have considered him to be on the list because of his lack of goals from his time in the Premier League.

Scott McTominay

McTominay wasn't always held in high regard by the Man United fans as they probably thought he wasn't a Man United calibre of player.

But he did put in a number of good performances in the midfield during his time there and especially last season where he scored a number of crucial goals and was often the player who would step up whenever United needed someone too.

He's been a big miss for them since leaving for Napoli in the summer as he was one of the very few players who knew what it meant to play for United having come though the academy. He's been in fine form at Napoli this season and is showing why United were wrong let him go.

I thought he was a defensive midfielder when he broke into the first team but after watching him for Scotland and at time for United last season, he's definitely more of a box-to-box midfielder as he has incredible energy and likes to break into the box to score goals.

Ryan Fraser

Fraser was a very good player on his day at Bournemouth as he both scored and created a number of crucial goals to help the Cherries establish themselves as a Premier League club over a good few seasons.

He proved himself to be an important player during his time at Bournemouth and especially during the 2018/19 season where he registered 7 goals and 14 assists, and formed a good partnership with Callum Wilson. They linked up together several times over the course of that season.

His time with the Cherries didn't end as well as he hoped though as he refused to sign a short term contract to play the rest of the COVID disrupted season where Bournemouth were relegated.

He joined Newcastle off the back of that season and his time there didn't work out as was mostly a sub and wasn't able to have the same kind of impact he had at Bournemouth. Even after his old boss Eddie Howe arrived.

John McGinn

McGinn has been one of Villa's most important players since they've been in the Premier League due to his incredible energy and work rate off the ball.

He's improved a lot as a player since Unai Emery has been his manager as he's added both goals and assists to his game to go with his energy and work ethic out of possession.

He's also grown as a leader both before and after taking on the captaincy role and his leadership has been key to Villa progressing onto the next level along with his playing attributes.

I wanted to put him higher but as he hasn't played in the Premier League for very long, I had to put him in 7th.

James Morrison

Morrison spent the majority of his career at West Brom and was an important player for them throughout his time there.

He scored a lot of important goals during his time with the Baggies and was a player who could play anywhere in the midfield including as a no.10 or in a more defensive role.

He was part of the Baggies side that were relegated in 2009 and we went back up with them the following season, after which he played a key role in them establishing themselves as a Premier League club over a good number of seasons by scoring some important goals, working hard in the midfield.

Steven Fletcher

Fletcher was never considered as a top striker in the Premier League, but he was a proven goal scorer at Premier League level and he showed that at all the clubs he played for.

He scored 8 times in his only season at Burnley where the clarets got relegated before going on to hit double figures in both of his two seasons at Wolves and his first season at Sunderland.

The goals did dry up a lot during his final few seasons in the Premier League, but he was still a proven goal scorer at Premier League.

His goals in his first season at Wolves helped them stay up and it proved to be exactly the same in his debut season at Sunderland.

Charlie Adam

Adam was an incredible passer of a ball on his day as he had the vision to pick out any kind of pass from both open play and from set pieces.

He was also a good striker of the ball as he could shots from any distance on the pitch, even from his own half as he showed when he scored that goal against Chelsea whilst at Stoke.

He first came into the Premier League with Blackpool off the back of their promotion and he carried them for the majority of their one and only season in the top flight.

He got a move to Liverpool off the back of that season which unfortunately didn't work out as he wasn't a Liverpool calibre of player.

He spent just a season with the reds before joining Stoke where he looked more comfortable as he was at a club that was more on his level. He put in a lot of good performance during his time at Stoke as he helped them finish 9th for three straight seasons between 2014 and 2016.

Gary McAllister

McAllister was an all action midfield player on his day as he had bags of energy, was tenacious, was a brilliant passer of the ball and also liked to break into the box to score goals.

He was also versatile as he could player anywhere in the midfield including both as a defensive and attacking midfielder.

He was part of the Liverpool side that won the treble in 2001 during which he played a key role as he popped up with some crucial contributions and put in some dominant performances in the midfield.

Darren Fletcher

Fletcher wasn't the most gifted of players on his day, but he was someone who would do a job for his team in getting back to help his team out defensively, and occasionally pop up with some crucial goals.

He did that throughout his time at Man United where he won everything on offer including five Premier League titles and the Champions League.

He didn't have the ability that Paul Scholes or Michael Carrick had, but he was still an important player in that Man United midfield because of his energy and work rate off the ball.

Andrew Robertson

Robertson was always going to be my no.1 because of what he's won and the player he's gone on to become over the last 5-6 seasons.

Liverpool paid just £8 million for Robertson when they signed him from Hull in the summer of 2017 and after taking a while to settle in, he soon went on to become one of the best full backs in Europe.

He's changed the role of a full back alongside his Liverpool counterpart Trent Alexander-Arnold by being able to create and player higher up the pitch. He's hogged that left hand side throughout his time at Liverpool and his energy don that side has played a key role in how Liverpool have played and the success they've achieved on the pitch.

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