Partey is probably leaving. Who could replace him?
Looking at Europe's top defensive-minded midfielders this season
Well, February turned out to be the dud that a lot of us (yours truly included) thought it may be. Arsenal, largely due to the financial constraints imposed upon them by UEFA FFP and Premier League Profit & Sustainability regulations, stood still in the winter window.
Now here we are, a week after that transfer period ended, and we’re already forming plans for summer. You’ve got to love football!
And although Thomas Partey likely will make a “like a new signing” return from injury at some point, early reports are hinting that the Ghanian - on a contract that expires in June 2025 - is on his way out.
Arsenal did rebuff interest in the deep midfielder this past summer, likely because they expected him to be fit something like 60 percent of the time — still injury-prone but at least still key. In that sense, their decision to hang onto him (from a footballing perspective) is defensible. Of course, it hasn’t worked out that way, and undoubtedly Mikel Arteta will be in search of a similar-ish player to Partey who can be the deep man if or when Declan Rice is unavailable, while potentially offering other utility in a double pivot alongside the likes of Jorginho.
And that brings us to today’s ranking! This time, I set out to find a midfielder who offers ball progression and retention, some creativity, but also checks some boxes as a defender. On the last point, that can be tough to truly gauge via statistics, so this is as good a place as any for my standard legal disclaimer.
This list is created relying fully on 22 different statistics from this season. I always encourage a healthy dose of the eye test before forming a final opinion on any player, so consume responsibly.
I required 9.0 90s, or 810 minutes, of league play to qualify for this rank.
I generally aimed toward pre-prime or early prime. The ranking itself also consists only of “attainable” players for Arsenal, although that’s completely based on my highly dubious opinion of who is or is not attainable.
While I’m calling this list a DM or holding midfielder or number six ranking, please note that not all of these players do play that role right now. Many don’t. I’ll try to note what I can, where I can.
All scores are subject to an adjustment according to league strength, so you shouldn’t have to mentally raise or lower rankings to make it more “fair.”
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