'The best defensive midfielders in the world' is the kind of list we might not have been able to publish 20-odd years ago.
According to raging Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane, midfielders weren't separated into specialist roles in the '90s – they were all required both to get forward and put a tackle in when necessary.
In modern football, it's a necessity of any team that a specialised defensive midfielder holds the midfield together – even if the roles become blurred during games. Given the importance of the position, it's a list in which there are a lot world-class candidates, too – and plenty of variety.
How our experts decided the best defensive midfielders in the world
We asked our comprehensive football experts at FourFourTwo to provide us with a list of the 10 best defensive midfielders in the world, just three months after our last update.
The criteria was intended to include all forms of no.6s, from registas and deep-lying playmakers to the good, old-fashioned ball-winning midfielder. Our experts looked at players over the last two seasons but weighed up current form and ability to come up with a shortlist.
Players who were injured – such as Rodri – were still considered, with the idea that their loss greatly impacting their team could count for them as a reason to be one of the best in the world. 15 players received votes, with the 10 highest-ranked forming our list and the others included in our honourable mentions below – while Bruno Guimaraes and Declan Rice were both nominated for the DM list but included, instead, for consideration for the best central midfielders in the world, as they not only received more votes for that category but have played more games there this season.
Defensive midfield is just one of 10 positions on the field considered, with the best attacking midfielders in the world wrapping up the centre of the park. We also have a list of the best goalkeepers in the world, while like midfield, defence and attack are split into three sections: right-backs, centre-backs and left-backs, and right-wingers, left-wingers and strikers. If you're looking for the best overall, we have that too, with our list of the best players in the world right now.
Honourable mentions
Honourable mentions
The full list
10. Sandro Tonali
Age: 24
Club: Newcastle United
Nationality: Italy
Tonali has taken the burden away from Bruno Guimaraes to flourish further forward – and actually, he’s doing a number of things better than the Rio native ever did in the role.
Having returned to the fold after a betting ban, it seemed as if Sandro Tonali faced an uphill struggle at breaking into an established Newcastle United midfield akin to climbing the Leazes Stand staircases.
Tonali has been reborn as the new-age Andrea Pirlo he was always prophesied to become. Anchoring at no.6, the Italian has taken the burden away from Bruno Guimaraes to flourish further forward – and actually, he’s doing a number of things better than the Rio native ever did in the role. Tonali is deft, has a natural rhythm for the game in defensive midfield and is the progressor through central areas that Eddie Howe has needed since arriving. With Brazilian duo of Joelinton and Bruno either side, the trio are one of the most complete midfields in the Premier League.
9. Joao Neves
Age: 20
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Nationality: Portugal
At just 20 years old, Joao Neves has earned a reputation as one of the brightest young talents in Europe thanks to his rise to prominence at Benfica before he earned a summer move to Paris Saint-Germain. That more reserved midfield role can be difficult for most youngsters, but Neves gets around that by… well, not playing that conservatively.
Despite not looking like much at 5ft 9in, his powerful, large-shouldered frame has helped him punch above his weight in the air and made him one of Europe’s most prolific midfield tacklers. But Neves also likes skinning opponents for fun, helping him to make a wondrous start to life at PSG: he claimed four assists in his first two games for the club this season.
8. Hakan Calhanoglu
Age: 31
Club: Inter Milan
Nationality: Turkey
Like a latter-day Yaya Toure, Calhanoglu boasts enviable passing stats from deep in midfield, but still finds the time to get forward and apply either a critical pass or the final shot.
Hakan Calhanoglu has enjoyed an excellent career in Europe after emerging as a top talent in the Bundesliga. He first came to prevalence because of his exceptional set-pieces, but he has proved far more than just a free-kick taker.
The Turkey international has played perhaps the best football of his career with Inter since 2021, netting a career-best 15 goals in all competitions in 2023/24 on the way to his first Serie A title. The set piece specialist remains the heartbeat of the Inter side on his day - and there are few players as truly box-to-box in the way they use the ball. Like a latter-day Yaya Toure, Calhanoglu boasts enviable passing stats from deep in midfield, but still finds the time to get forward and apply either a critical pass or the final shot.
7. Moises Caicedo
Age: 23
Club: Chelsea
Nationality: Ecuador
Being 21 years old and the subject of a £100 million transfer could weigh heavily on some players – he’s the fourth-most expensive Premier League star ever – and although Moises Caciedo took a bit of time to get up and running after swapping Brighton for Chelsea for a nine-figure fee, he has now found his stride.
The Ecuadorian is now a fixture in Enzo Maresca’s midfield and is key to how the side plays, with his graft in midfield allowing Cole Palmer and the rest of the club’s attacking riches to do their thing.
6. Eduardo Camavinga
Age: 22
Club: Real Madrid
Nationality: France
Need a job doing? Ask Cama. The Frenchman can do it all. A product of the Rennes Academy, Camavinga rose to prominence for this dazzling technical ability and surprising physicality as a central midfielder at the age of 16 before signing for Real Madrid just two years later.
Since then, Camavinga’s growth has been exponential. Deployed across the midfield and even at left-back, the Frenchman’s engine and ball-winning abilities have developed tenfold at the Bernabeu and have been rewarded with two Champions League titles in the early knockings of his career.
5. Martin Zubimendi
Age: 26
Club: Real Sociedad
Nationality: Spain
The Basque controller does very little spectacularly and everything to a consistently high level – and that’s why he’s perfect in this role.
It’s hard to know the biggest compliment you can pay Martin Zubimendi. Is it that Spain didn’t miss 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri when they slotted the Real Sociedad man into their midfield? Or is that the entirety of Europe are seemingly battling to sign him in the summer?
The Basque controller does very little spectacularly and everything to a consistently high level – and that’s why he’s perfect in this role. Zubimendi is calmness personified, able to control a game from deep and keep his team ticking over: his physicality is underrated though, his ability to break up play exemplary and his passing is exquisite. No wonder everyone wants him.
4. Joshua Kimmich
Age: 30
Club: Bayern Munich
Nationality: Germany
Joshua Kimmich’s best position has been a topic of debate for years, with the inverted right-back becoming a no.6 after Thiago Alcantara left a void with his exit to Liverpool. He’s easily one of the best right-backs in the world, too – but this season Kimmich has risen a level under Vincent Kompany.
To call him consistent would be an understatement: the German has been almost robotic in his quality, week after week, dictating play from deep in an incredibly attack-minded Bayern Munich side. He’s not slouch defensively either though, and has shown the kind of promise in this position that he’s always threatened, surprisingly those who criticised him for never truly finding the rhythm of a natural midfield presence. Kimmich really is a midfielder now though – one of the best around – and it seems unlikely he’ll ever return back to the backline again.
3. Aurelien Tchouameni
Age: 25
Club: Real Madrid
Nationality: France
Aurelien Tchouameni has a huge future ahead of him at Real Madrid. The defensive side of his game was on display plenty last season as he filled in at centre-back, but he is more effective in the defensive midfield role.
Los Blancos’ fifth-most expensive signing ever has that habit of putting in performances that may not jump out to the viewer, especially in a star-packed team, but are quietly crucial in how his team plays. The next Makelele? That might be doing him a disservice…
2. Ryan Gravenberch
Age: 22
Club: Liverpool
Nationality: Netherlands
Arguably the revelation of the season in the Premier League. Liverpool were long-linked with another no.6 last summer – and the summer before, with a bid for Moises Caicedo rebuffed – only for Ryan Gravenberch to step into the role and own it like he’s been playing it for years.
A figure previously included in FourFourTwo’s lists of the most exciting teenagers in the world, Gravenberch has always had the technical brilliance in tight spaces and the passing range that you’d expect for an Ajax academy graduate – but we always noted his imposing figure and maturity of knowing when to play it simple and when to progress vertically. This season, he’s become a man – and if not for the otherworldly brilliance of Mohamed Salah, he’d be looking a shoo-in for Liverpool’s Player of the Season.
1. Rodri
Age: 28
Club: Manchester City
Nationality: Spain
We’d say the midfielder’s absence had made the heart grow fonder, but is it even possible to hold more affection and esteem than winning the Ballon d’Or?
By now we know it is overly simplistic to put all of Manchester City’s struggles this season down purely to Rodri not being there in the heart of their midfield, but it has definitely been an enormous factor.
The way that machine ground to a halt so quickly after Rodri’s season-ending ACL injury showed just how much he had those cogs turning with his metronomic yet incisive passing, willingness to carry the ball at the right times, and unerring ability to spot a final pass. What more do you want from a midfielder?
