A team that can take control over the middle of the pitch can usually take command of a game. Clubs all over Europe clubs are investing in trying to equip themselves with the midfielders to dominate their opponents and lead their teams to glory.
However, the football season is long and arduous, especially for sides with commitments in the Europa League and Champions League as well as secondary domestic cup competitions.
Below are the six clubs with the best midfield depth from across Europe’s top five leagues – not only squads with a higher number of players capable of taking up position in the centre of the park, but teams with a genuinely effective pool of options.
6. Roma
First-team midfielders: Daniele De Rossi, Diego Perotti, Gerson, Kevin Strootman, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Maxime Gonalons, Radja Nainggolan (7)
Monchi has already had an impact in Rome, signing Lorenzo Pellegrini and Maxime Gonalons to increase the number of first-team ready midfielders available to new manager Eusebio Di Francesco to seven.
They join the established core of captain Daniele De Rossi, who has taken over the armband from the retired Francesco Totti, Kevin Stootman, Gerson, Diego Perotti and Radja Nainggolan, who last season began to play closer to the attack after previously providing the legs in a deeper role.
5. Arsenal
First-team midfielders: Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil, Mohamed Elneny, Santi Cazorla (7)
Youth coming through: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Jeff Reine-Adelaide (2)
Arsene Wenger may not always get the combination right but Arsenal have an excellent pool of talent in midfield, even if Santi Cazorla’s chronic injury problems may regularly deny the Gunners the chance to play the two-footed Spaniard to unlock their true potential as a team.
Yet Granit Xhaka is now beginning to establish himself with a back three set out to provide him the platform and the cover he needs, which has also enabled Aaron Ramsey to find his form as a force for good, from box-to-box. Mesut Ozil drops back enough to been considered part of the midfield apparatus.
Their second-choice options aren’t fool proof. Mohamed Elneny is useful. Francis Coquelin less so, although he has his niche too. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can play in midfield when needed, if he sticks around, and if he doesn’t then that could mean more opportunities for Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
4. Paris Saint-Germain
First-team midfielders: Adrian Rabiot, Blaise Matuidi, Giovani Lo Celso, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Javier Pastore, Marco Verratti, Thiago Motta (7)
Youth coming through: Christopher Nkunku (1)
Beaten to the title by a leaner, younger Monaco team last season, that boasted more freshness and firepower than the Qatar-backed, would-be super club from the French capital, PSG have work to do in order to recover their domestic dominance next year, but in midfield they remain as strong as ever.
They may yet weaken their rivals to further enhance their depth in the centre of the pitch. Monaco midfielder Fabinho has been linked, not that he’s necessarily needed to take on a role in the first team.
In Marco Verratti they have a player who can control games at will, and is reportedly coveted by Barcelona. Matuidi, Motta, Pastore and Rabiot all offer something different, even if Krychowiak has failed to impress.
3. Manchester City
First-team midfielders: Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Fabian Delph, Fernandinho, Fernando, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Yaya Toure (8)
Youth coming through: Aleix Garcia (1)
Pep Guardiola is always a manager who likes to pile his plate of midfield options high, and he has wasted no time in bringing in more players to expand his available options in the middle of the park.
Unfortunately, not all of the players under his command are as available or as good as he might like. Gundogan is a brilliant, deep-lying playmaker, but he’s made out of glass. Extremely fragile glass. Fernando has been found wanting at times. Yaya Toure is an excellent and intelligent passer of the ball. He is also 34.
However, by signing Bernardo Silva from Monaco and bringing through Aleix Garcia, City may be able to weather the effects of injuries to key players next season, although the two “free eights” of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva are irreplaceable at their best.
2. Real Madrid
First-team midfielders: Casemiro, Isco, Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Toni Kroos ,Dani Cabellos (6)
Youth coming through: Marcos Llorente (1)
Quality over quantity. Real Madrid are the perfect example of truly effective strength in depth in midfield. While no two players come close to matching Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, Isco and Mateo Kovacic would be first-choice starters at almost any other club, while Casemiro fills the niche as the defensive anchorman.
Marcos Llorente has now returned after a year spent away on loan with Alaves to give Zinedine Zidane a secondary option when he needs another option in front of his back four.Dani Cabellos will also join in from real betis in the coming week replacing James Rodriguez,who left to join Bayern Munich on a two year loan deal
1. Bayern Munich
First-team midfielders: Arturo Vidal, Corentin Tolisso, Javi Martinez, Joshua Kimmich, Renato Sanches, Sebastian Rudy, Thiago Alcantara,James Rodriguez(8)
Youth coming through: Fabian Benko, Niklas Dorsch (2)
Take the surplus that Arsenal and Manchester City enjoy and combine it with the substance available to Real Madrid and the end result is Bayern Munich’s midfield roster.
Even two years on from the departure of Pep Guardiola, the club are still piling on the players in the middle of the park, following a season that saw Xabi Alonso and right-back Philipp Lahm both retire – the German having also stepped into midfield in recent years.
With Uli Hoeneß back in power at the Allianz Arena, the Bavarians are on a recruitment drive to build a new German core, and signed Sebastian Rudy from last season’s over-performers Hoffenheim. He has been joined by Corentin Tolisso to bulk out a midfield that already boasted a bit of everything – the box-to-box ferocity of Vidal, the skill and imagination of Thiago, the promise of Kimmich and Sanches, and the defensive strength of Martinez,and also the addition of James Rodriguez from Real madrid
In Fabian Benko and Niklas Dorsch, they also have two youngsters ready to force their way into the side, heralded as the next Ivan Rakitic and Toni Kroos, respectively, and have also been linked with signing Schalke midfielder Leon Goretzka, one of the stars of Germany’s Confederations Cup campaign.
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