Man City star slower than every Premier League star with teammate second fastest (2025)

A fascinating study has revealed who the Premier League's slowest and quickest players are, with current champions Manchester City having two players in each category

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva has been named the slowest player in the Premier League, according to data from Opta. The 30-year-old has clocked a top speed of just 29.4 km/h this season, making him the most sluggish man in England's top division.

Wolves' 34-year-old centre-half Craig Dawson, with a top speed of 29.6 km/h, came second-slowest, just ahead of Silva, while Arsenal's versatile midfielder Mikel Merino, who has recently been playing up front, was third slowest with speeds of just 29.8 km/h.

However, the report also highlighted the quickest players in the league. Tottenham Hotspur's Dutch defender Micky Van de Ven was revealed to be the fastest player, reaching a top speed of 37.1 km/h.

Despite having the slowest player, City also boasts the league's second-fastest player - Silva's Portuguese teammate Matheus Nunes, who recorded a pace of 36.7 km/h. Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo completed the top three sprinters with a speed of 36.6 km/h, as per the Mirror.

The study also disclosed which player has covered the most distance this season, with West Ham's Tomas Soucek leading the pack, having run 140.8 km.

Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle United has impressively clocked up 139.9 km, sitting comfortably in second place, just behind Youri Tielemans of Aston Villa, who's not far off with 139.3 km under his belt.

Other highlights include Wolves star Matheus Cunha bagging the prize as the player who spends the most time walking during matches at 77 per cent. Nottingham Forest's Anthony Elanga was found to make the most sprints per match at 1.17 per cent of the match, while Spurs' Dejan Kulusevski runs the most kilometres every 90 minutes with 12.3 km.

Despite topping a list he'd likely prefer not to, Silva has still had a busy season. The diminutive midfielder has played in 40 games for City this season, scoring three goals and assisting four.

While it's his lowest attacking output in a City shirt since joining, he resents claims that Pep Guardiola's squad is having to contend with age as a factor in their struggles this season, with City's last remaining hope of domestic silverware set to be the FA Cup.

Asked whether City's squad was too old after the Citizens beat Bournemouth to progress to the semi-finals, Silva said: "Tell me, which player? Give me names.

"That's people that don't understand the game. I'm 30-years-old, [Mateo] Kovacic is 30-years-old. You're not talking about guys that are 36. So we have six bad months or four bad months and out of nowhere we're old, we're not good enough. In the last eight seasons we've won six Premier Leagues and for four bad months we're old?

"I'm asking you. You asked me the question so I answered. That's people that don't understand the game, never played the game and probably don't understand a thing about football. We're going to prove them wrong. We have time for that."

Silva joined City in May 2017 for £43.5million from Monaco. In his time with the club he has won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, and the Champions League in 2023.