There has never been a higher demand for midfielders.
While ephemeral number 10s have always been sought after, the last 18 months have seen an explosion in the value of all-action central midfielders; four of the five most expensive players in the history of this position have commanded nine-digit transfer fees this calendar year – and the three costliest midfielders of all time currently reside in the Premier League.
With such a wealth – quite literally – of talent to pick from, here are 90min’s ten most in-form midfielders from the 2023/24 campaign.
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An hour and a quarter into his debut for Tottenham Hotspur, James Maddison was already wearing the captain’s armband. Relegated with Leicester City last season, the English playmaker wasted no time rapidly assimilating to his new surroundings.
Maddison created both of Tottenham’s goals in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Brentford, helping Ange Postecoglou release the handbrake which had been cemented into place after the gloomy years under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.
Eberechi Eze did not manage to provide a goal for his team on the first Saturday of the season but it was not for a lack of trying.
The wriggling number 10 created seven chances for his wasteful colleagues in Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win over Sheffield United – more than any other player across the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign.
Even though he started his Liverpool career in the not-entirely-familiar role of a single holding pivot, Alexis Mac Allister’s unerring calm on the ball served him well in a new-look engine room for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Mac Allister’s two brothers, father, cousin and uncle have all played professional football but Alexis is the star of the family at the heart of Liverpool’s midfield.
A forgotten man in the second half of the 2022/23 season, Yves Bissouma played a full 90 minutes away from home for the first time since Boxing Day in Tottenham’s opening-weekend draw with Brentford.
The industrious and dextrous midfielder is perfectly suited to the technical and tiring demands of a central cog in Postecoglou’s machine.
Eddie Howe has been unwilling to toss new signings straight into his dizzyingly high-energy Newcastle United side. However, Sandro Tonali needed just six minutes to burst into the box and acrobatically score Newcastle’s first goal of the new campaign on his debut.
As a die-hard AC Milan fan leaving the Rossoneri, many perceived Tonali as a reluctant arrival on Tyneside. Yet, there was little hesitancy as he celebrated feverishly with his new adoring public in the Gallowgate End.
The most expensive Arsenal signing of all time had already embraced his new home before the Premier League season even kicked off. Crouching into a pre-game huddle, Declan Rice was spotted joining in with Louis Dunford’s ‘The Angel’ which boomed out of the Emirates’ sound system.
Playing on a surface that he has excitedly described as “the carpet” in the past, Rice barely put a foot wrong on his debut.
Who needs Kevin De Bruyne when you’ve got Julian Alvarez? ‘The Spider’, as his brothers nicknamed him in childhood, led the line for Argentina at the 2022 World Cup but has been re-tooled by Pep Guardiola as an attacking midfielder in the months since his global triumph.
With Ilkay Gundogan gone and De Bruyne sidelined by injury, Alvarez is hardly a feeble alternative as a nippy foil for the force of nature that is Erling Haaland.
Picked up from right where he left off against Nottingham Forest. Arsenal’s captain is not only the team’s technical leader but he sets the tone in the coordinated press.
Odegaard’s former manager at Vitesse Arnhem, Leonid Slutsky, described the “hyper-professional” as “almost like a robot”. However, no machine possesses Odegaard’s penchant for creative problem-solving on the fly.
Another all-round masterclass on the opening day against Burnley – which included a goal, an assist and just three misplaced passes from 110 attempted – underscored Rodri’s status as the epicentre of Manchester City’s treble winners.
Yet, Rodri’s unwavering form as the ballast in City’s midfield was not enough to earn him a nomination for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award. Don’t worry Rodri, even if your fellow footballers don’t appreciate you, we at 90min sure do.
Enzo Fernandez arrived at Chelsea for a British-record fee of £107m and was immediately shunted into the base of midfield. Frank Lampard explained that he was “the most natural six out of a midfield which doesn’t have so many natural sixes”.
Mauricio Pochettino’s first defining act as the Chelsea manager was to unshackle his playmaker. “I’ve always felt comfortable playing near the goal,” Fernandez explained in an interview in January 2022 which Pochettino may have read, “looking for pockets of space so I can create a chance or shoot.”
Chelsea’s conductor wreaked havoc popping up in the myriad of gaps that existed between the widening lines of Liverpool’s set-up on the opening Sunday of the season.
