Who Told the Wingers to Leave the Wing?

The teamsheet shows the winger near the touchline, but ten minutes later, he is receiving centrally, dropping between midfield and defence, appearing in the box, and perhaps even turning up on the opposite flank. At that point, it is tempting to wonder: wasn’t he supposed to stay over there?

The thing is, he has not necessarily wandered out of position. Often, it is part of the plan.

Formation graphics can tell you where a player starts. However, they do not dictate where he will spend the entire match. The truth is, wingers have not abandoned the wing; they have just become less interested in staying there.

Beyond the Byline

For a long time, wingers typically had a fairly straightforward job on the pitch. They would position themselves near the touchline and receive possession there. Then, they would take on the opposing full-back before trying to reach the byline. From there, they would usually look to cross for the striker. In doing so, they stretched the opposition horizontally and gave their own side more width.

Ryan Giggs, particularly in his prime as a winger at Manchester United, was a classic example of the traditional role. A left-footer on the left, he used his pace and dribbling to beat full-backs on the outside before delivering into the box.

Over time, though, a different kind of attacker was becoming more familiar. The inverted winger was hardly a new concept, but by Arjen Robben’s prime at Bayern Munich, it had become a much more common sight at the top level. The Netherlands international mainly played on the right, despite being naturally left-footed. He would collect possession out wide before turning towards goal. That allowed him to open up an angle for a shot or link up with his teammates in central areas.

Robben was not the end point of that evolution. The same basic idea is still easy to see in the modern game, but playing inverted is only one part of the story.

Mohamed Salah, for instance, spent much of his Liverpool career posing a threat from the right by coming infield onto his stronger left foot. With Salah, the danger is not merely about receiving wide and cutting inside. Rather, a huge part of his game comes from off-ball movement and arriving in scoring positions.

Those runs without the ball regularly take him away from the touchline and into more central areas. So, he ends up much closer to the striker than an out-and-out winger would. The Egyptian player can also pull defenders inward and leave more room on the outside for his teammates to exploit.

Salah may start out on the right, yet many of his threatening actions happen in the box.

This goes to show that wingers can also serve as extra forwards, no matter where they begin.

If the Winger Moves, Who Follows?

Here comes the defender’s dilemma. The winger has drifted between the lines, and now the full-back has a decision to make: Should I follow him inside and leave the flank open? Or should I stay in position and risk him receiving centrally with time and space?

He might also think: Should I pass him on to our midfielder? Oh great. If the midfielder tracks him away from his usual area, he may leave another attacker free in the middle.

In the record-breaking first leg of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League semi-final between PSG and Bayern Munich, Désiré Doué showed exactly how disruptive a winger can be when he leaves his usual side altogether.

Doué is a versatile forward, but that night he started on the right at the Parc des Princes. However, he did not remain there. Instead, he would sometimes drift across the pitch to join his teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the opposite flank. Just like that, PSG had both wingers on the same side. For Bayern’s left-back, Alphonso Davies, that kind of movement could leave him in a tricky spot: Should I follow Doué across or hand him over?

If Davies does follow him across, he might be dragged away from the area he would normally protect. That can then give PSG the option to switch play and attack the space he has left behind. If he does not, Doué could become temporarily free. Meanwhile, another Bayern defender could suddenly have both him and Kvaratskhelia to deal with.

Either way, Doué’s positioning can give Bayern’s back line a headache before he even receives the ball.

No Safe Side: Pick Your Problem

Defenders love patterns. Work out a winger’s favourite route and half the battle is won. If he always cuts inside, block that path and force him wide. If he prefers to go outside, shut off the line instead. But what happens when he can threaten you either way?

That is exactly what makes Lamine Yamal an absolute nightmare to defend.

The Barça forward is a left-footer who usually starts on the right. His exceptional dribbling ability allows him to glide past multiple defenders, sometimes leaving them wrong-footed. At times, he plays the traditional role and takes his man down the line. From there, he can send a cross into the box from the flank. Other times, the inverted winger takes over: he cuts inside onto his stronger foot. He can then either create from around the edge of the box or look for a shot himself.

The problem for defenders is not that any of these movements are new; it is that they cannot simply prepare for one. Given Yamal’s ability to cross, create for a teammate, or score himself, the unpredictability is not just about where he goes, but how the attack ends.

And it is not just the winger who keeps the defence guessing. Who he links up with and where they go can be just as difficult to track.

Take Michael Olise, for example. The Frenchman often receives the ball close to the right touchline. He can then carry it either into the centre or towards the right edge of the box, where he can look for a shot or pick out a teammate in the area. He can also play a quick one-two. He makes the initial pass and continues his run for the return ball. That movement can put him in a better position to either create a chance or finish the move himself.

Coming infield does not mean the flank becomes empty. A Bayern Munich player can push up to fill that space and take responsibility for the width. That gives Olise another passing option out wide.

So… Does Everyone Cut Inside?

That said, some wingers are deliberately kept near the touchline. One tactical reason is how dangerous they can be in 1v1 situations.

Jérémy Doku is a fantastic example of the classic wide man. His explosive pace and direct dribbling make him extremely difficult to stop when he has only one man to beat. If Manchester City build down one side of the pitch, the Belgium international can remain on the opposite flank rather than moving across with the rest of the attack. So if the team switches play towards him, instead of receiving the ball with several defenders around him, Doku can find himself facing one isolated full-back.

The logic is simple: get your best dribbler one-on-one with as little support around the defender as possible.

Ultimately, neither coming inside nor holding the touchline is automatically better. It all depends on what the attack needs. Whether a winger moves closer to goal or remains wide to take on a full-back, he can trouble the defence in different ways. Leaving the wing can be part of the plan, and so can staying there. The same player can take on more than one of those roles within a single match.

So when a winger turns up somewhere unexpected, perhaps the better question is: what can he do from there?