What exactly is a defensive midfielder these days, anyway?
Once upon a time, the job was pretty straightforward: sit in front of the back four, kick a few people, win the ball and give it to someone more talented. These days, managers want their number 6s to dictate possession, break the press, cover half the pitch and occasionally produce a defense-splitting pass for good measure. Apparently, simply being good at defending is no longer enough.
That evolution also makes putting together a list like this a bit of a headache. Is that guy a 6 or an 8? Is he a deep-lying playmaker or a box-to-box midfielder? Does it depend on the manager, the formation or which direction the wind is blowing? The answer, frustratingly, is often yes.
So consider this my formal disclaimer before anyone comes for me in the comments: I’ve done my best to identify players whose primary role is operating deeper in midfield, but there’s inevitably some room for interpretation. If your favorite number 8 has snuck onto this list, I promise it wasn’t a personal attack.
As always, these rankings are driven purely by the ADAM model and shouldn’t replace good, old-fashioned scouting. They also don’t necessarily reflect my own opinions of these players.
Now, with the positional confusion hopefully settled for at least the next 30 seconds, let’s get into the rankings!
