European Team of the Season so far, starring Bellingham and Guirassy

Updated: 11 Oct 2023 13:13 BST
7 min read

Serhou Guirassy, Jude Bellingham — © ProShots

The 2023-24 season is into its stride and the October international break provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on the opening two months of action.

Tottenham Hotspur lead the way in England, while it’s Real Madrid and Milan in Spain and Italy respectively.

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Somewhat more surprisingly, Monaco are currently top of Ligue 1, with PSG in third, and Bayer Leverkusen are first in the Bundesliga, with Bayern Munich in third.

Below is FootballTransfers’ European Team of the Season thus far.

FootballTransfers’ European Team of the Season so far

GK: Marcin Bulka - Nice

Nice are currently second in Ligue 1 and they have the best defensive record of any side in Europe’s top five leagues.

Francesco Farioli’s team have conceded only four league goals so far this season and Marcin Bulka has kept five clean sheets in just eight matches.

The Polish shot-stopper has also conceded 2.6 less goals than Expected Goals suggests he should have, proving how excellent his start to the 2023-24 campaign has been.

DEF: Achraf Hakimi - PSG

Achraf Hakimi has four goals and two assists in just 10 games this campaign, all from right-back.

Luis Enrique’s start to life at Paris Saint-Germain hasn’t been particularly convincing, but Hakimi has begun the new season in fantastic fashion. His free-kick goal versus Marseille was special and he was also remarkably impressive in PSG’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.

DEF: Fikayo Tomori - Milan

Fikayo Tomori has been back to his best this season and his form has helped Milan to top spot in Serie A, despite Inter’s brilliant start to the year.

Milan have won every league game bar one this year and it’s little surprise that Tomori was unavailable for selection during that match. They were thrashed 5-1 by Inter and Tomori’s absence was sorely felt.

He has helped Milan to two clean sheets this term and his performances in the Champions League have also been great.

DEF: Alejandro Grimaldo - Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen look best placed to challenge Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title this season and Xabi Alonso’s men currently sit top of the league standings in Germany.

Summer signing Alejandro Grimaldo has played a key role in their form this term, with two goals and three assists in just seven Bundesliga appearances. His first goal for the club was a sublime free-kick against Bayern, which helped Leverkusen to a 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena.

The fact his move from Benfica was a free transfer is remarkable.

MID: Mohamed Salah - Liverpool

Mohamed Salah was judged to have endured a slow start to the season after the first few games, but the Egyptian has entered the October international break with five goals and four assists in just eight games.

As a result, he has the joint-most goal contributions (nine) of any player in the Premier League so far this season - along with Erling Haaland.

Although his positioning on the right flank has kept him away from central areas since Jurgen Klopp’s system change, which sees Trent Alexander-Arnold sometimes tuck inside, Salah has still been a constant end product machine and he slots into our team.

MID: Jude Bellingham - Real Madrid

Jude Bellingham has been a phenomenon since joining Real Madrid. The Englishman has essentially become Los Blancos’ Karim Benzema replacement and he has scored 10 goals and provided three assists in just 10 games for his new club.

His goals have often been clutch too and Real Madrid would not be top of La Liga without Bellingham. His inclusion is a no-brainer.

MID: James Maddison - Tottenham

James Maddison’s €46.3m price tag is looking a snip right now after his excellent start at Tottenham.

The England international has two goals and five assists (the joint-most in the Premier League) in eight league matches for his new club and his relationship with Son Heung-min looks every bit as devastating as the Korea Republic star’s former connection with Harry Kane.

Maddison has seamlessly slotted into the Tottenham team and the fact he is already vice-captain proves how quickly he has settled in.

MID: Takefusa Kubo - Real Sociedad

After fairly unremarkable loan moves to Villerreal and Getafe in 2020-21 and to Mallorca in 2021-22, Takefusa Kubo’s career appeared to have stagnated.

He had contributed just two goals and one assist in 59 La Liga appearances across those loan spells and it looked as though he may never add final-third productivity to his immense dribbling ability.

However, he netted nine goals and provided four league assists for Real Sociedad last season, after a permanent move to the club, and he has started this season in fantastic form.

The Japanese winger has five goals and two assists in La Liga and the Champions League this season and tore Real Madrid to shreds during Sociedad’s unfortunate defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu.

FOR: Santiago Gimenez - Feyenoord

Santiago Gimenez is being chased by some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Real Madrid, and for good reason.

The Mexican has 12 goals and two assists in just eight Eredivisie matches so far this season, including a hat-trick against Ajax.

He netted 15 league goals for Feyenoord last season so is set to smash that tally well before December if he keeps up his current scoring rate. Gimenez is one of Europe’s most deadly marksmen right now.

FOR: Serhou Guirassy - Stuttgart

Serhou Guirassy is the unlikely star currently leading the European Golden Shoe race. The Stuttgart man has scored an incredible 14 goals in just eight appearances in all competitions.

His previous best goal tally in a single league campaign was the 11 he notched in the Bundesliga last term.

With 13 goals in just seven league appearances this season, Guirassy has already smashed that record and is set to give Harry Kane and Victor Boniface a real fight for the top-scorer award in Germany.

He has bagged two hat-tricks (versus Mainz and Wolfsburg) and three braces (versus Bochum, Freiburg and Darmstadt) so far this campaign and Stttugart’s 2-0 win over Koln is the only game in which he hasn’t scored.

FOR: Lautaro Martinez - Inter

Lautaro Martinez has netted 10 Serie A goals in just eight games plus he also notched the equaliser in Inter’s Champions League draw against Real Sociedad too.

The Argentine is only the third Inter player in history to have double digits for goals after 10 games and is the first to achieve that feat for over 60 years.