Best player - at the bit perhaps? (5)
I believe the answer is:
champ
'best player' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'at the bit perhaps?' is the wordplay.
'at' becomes 'cham' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'the bit' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'bit of' mean this).
The initial letter of 'perhaps' is 'p'.
'cham'+'p'='CHAMP'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for champ that I've seen before include "boxer who is top dog?" , "Top sportsman" , "Munch noisily; winner" , "who's the best performer?" , "Crush" .)