Why The Defensive Midfield Role is The Most Important Position in Modern Football

Often considered undervalued, unappreciated, rough, cynical, aggressive, rash, and less important, particularly to teams with high attacking build and tact, the defensive midfield role (historically referred to as the number ‘6’ position) gets less plaudits than deserved, given the impeccable importance in a team.

The responsibilities of breaking opposition plays, initiating attacks, and safeguarding the defence are prerequisites for any elite team striving for success, all of which a defensive midfielder contributes to. This was exemplified by N’Golo Kante’s impact on Leicester City’s Premier League triumph under Claudio Ranieri. The French midfielder played a pivotal role in instigating attacks, disrupting opposing advances, fortifying the defensive line, and serving as the crucial link between defence and attack.

Throughout the history of dominant title-winning teams, the presence of a proficient defensive midfielder has been central to their achievements. Just as Barcelona relied on Busquets, Real Madrid depended on Casemiro, and during Jupp Heynckes era, Bayern Munich thrived with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez. Manchester City had Fernandinho and now Rodri to fill this role. A specialised defensive midfielder is a consistent feature in Europe’s premier sides. The absence or lack of a truly top-quality defensive midfield anchor can be the difference between a successful season and one marred by disappointment.

Defensive midfielders provide overarching stability to the team, and it’s not coincidental that often, the departure or retirement of such a player leads to a downturn in the team’s performance. Real Madrid serves as a prime example of this phenomenon. At the turn of the century, the Spanish giant pursued the creation of an ultra-modern football squad under the guidance of President Florentino Perez. Amid the allure of assembling football’s greatest superstars, the club let go of their pivotal defensive midfielder, Claude Makélelé, a few seasons after parting ways with Argentine defensive midfielder Fernando Redondo. This decision ushered in a prolonged trophy drought for Los Blancos, winning the league title only once in four years. Conversely, Chelsea, who secured the signature of the French midfield star, experienced their best defensive phase, clinching the Premier League twice in three seasons under the management of the ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho.

Real Madrid’s singular action highlighted to many the significance of having a resolute defensive midfielder within a team that exudes finesse and elegance from all angles.

Makélelé’s teammate Steven McManaman, in his 2006 autobiography, had this to say about the Frenchman:

“I think Claude has this kind of gift—he’s been the best player in the team for years, but people just don’t notice him, don’t notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about, and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew the players all knew he was the most important. The loss of Makélelé was the beginning of the end for Los Galacticos…You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key, and I think he is the same to Chelsea now.”

This just goes on to highlight the fact that no matter how much flair and skill a team possesses, it always remains incomplete without the hard work and tireless running of a defensive midfielder.

Zinedine Zidane perfectly summed up the value of a defensive midfielder when speaking on the sale of Makélelé, as quoted by ESPN:

 “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?”

Underscoring the growing significance of the defensive midfield position in contemporary football is the inclination of coaches to field a pair of players with this quality simultaneously, particularly when facing opponents renowned for their attacking prowess or when seeking to bolster a perceived defensive vulnerability.

This art of ball recovery and the championship-defining, tenacious tackles mastered by these players have gradually propelled their status, evident in the astronomical transfer fees shelled out for defensive midfielders in the transfer market spanning from 2021 to 2023.

Below is a table showing the list of the top 10 most expensive transfers in football and 30% are accounted for by defensive midfielders:

Real Madrid’s substantial £85 million acquisition of Aurelien Tchouameni is a testament to this trend, as is Arsenal’s staggering £105 million club-record transfer deal for the services of Declan Rice. Chelsea’s groundbreaking, record-breaking transfers of both Enzo Fernandez – £107 million and £115 million to secure Moise Caicedo. These moves stand as clear indicators of the burgeoning value placed on players possessing distinctive skill sets in this pivotal position.

Moreover, the significance of possessing a resolute and unyielding ball-winner in teams vying for a championship is underscored by the increasing tendency among football coaches to deploy a fullback in an auxiliary capacity to bolster the defensive midfield, as opposed to their conventional duty of supplying width to their offence.

Defenders including Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo, and Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko are a few examples of fullbacks that have revelled in this role.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City faced criticism for their defeat in the 2021 Champions League final due to the absence of a dedicated defensive midfielder in their tactical setup. The Spanish coach addressed this issue in 2023 against Inter Milan. In a narrative that exemplifies football’s most captivating tales, the goal that secured the ultimate prize for the former Barcelona coach was netted by none other than defensive midfielder Rodri, adding a touch of poetic justice to the story.