Ranking early DM returns
Which midfielders look like the best 6s so far this season?
News broke a couple of weeks ago that Arsenal would not be entertaining a Thomas Partey extension, something both Scott and I would tell you is the right move. Then a couple of weeks later, ITKs started saying the exact opposite.
Whichever way things go with Partey, it does feel likely that at least one of he and Jorginho is bound to leave Arsenal after this season, potentially opening up one slot for a new deeper midfielder. So we’d better start getting our homework done early, no?
It’s a little early, but it’s time to rank some players. Before we get into it, my disclaimers:
This list is created relying fully on statistics from this season and last season. Players are rated using more than 40 distinct data points of varying weights.
Minimum for inclusion was 360 league minutes, which is 4 full games. That is a small sample size. This may be the weirdest ranking of the season as a result.
In fact, let’s add this note: THESE ARE ALL SMALL SAMPLE SIZES. There, now I don’t have to put that on the graphics.
I generally aimed toward pre-prime or early prime, so you’ll find no 28+ players here.
These players don’t necessarily all play a traditional 6 role, but their numbers encompass the traits of a 6 the best out of the available options. I’ll talk more about the roles they play as we go.
I always encourage a healthy dose of the eye test before forming a final opinion on any player, so consume responsibly.
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.”
As I like to do, let’s talk about Arsenal candidates for this list first.
We can start with the guy who’s only eligible for this list on a technicality. Rice hasn’t actually played much of a DM role at all for Arsenal, spending far more time as an advanced midfielder as Thomas Partey holds it down deep. I don’t think he’s been quite as good as he was last season so far, but is certainly creating good chances and providing ball security. He also missed a game, making his sample even smaller. It’s early, so you can expect some noise and some really irregular charts as of now. But, thanks to the weight of last season’s score, he’d still be fifth.
Here’s Arsenal’s true 6 so far this season. You can see how their respective roles have influenced some of the defensive numbers, though Partey really isn’t recovering anything at all. Partey has had a couple of good performances this season, but I’m a little surprised at how little he’s done to progress the ball. He’s only once progressed the ball in a way that would be in the 65th or so percentile this season, against Southampton. That’s interesting considering what he’s known for among the Arsenal fanbase, being the guy who plays the line-breaking passes while Rice doesn’t. But Rice, who plays higher up the pitch, has more progressive passes this season.
Partey would be 23rd in this ranking.
Sadly I don’t have enough Jorgi minutes to do a chart, so let’s run through honorable mention.
Sergi Altimira, Real Betis
Hayden Hackney, Middlesborough
Reda Belahyane, Hellas Verona
Vinicius Souza, Sheffield United
Mirko Topić, Famalicão
Lucien Agoume, Sevilla
Jacopo Fazzini, Empoli
André, Wolves
Lamine Camara, AS Monaco
Samu Costa, Mallorca
And now, the top 25!
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