The 10 Best Defensive Midfielders In The World Right Now, Named And Ranked​

 

Football’s unsung heroes are the defensive midfielders or CDMs if you’re a FUT player. Sitting ahead of the back three or four, clearing up the mess, taking out the trash and basically doing the dirty work before moving the ball to the creative players.

There may never have been a crop of holding midfielders as good as the one we have now – most on our list can also play further up the pitch or even at the back.

Here we pick our top 10 defensive midfielders in the world. We’ve used a number of stats from last season to quantify our rankings, as well as a player’s overall contribution to the game in recent times. So who makes it into our top 10?

All stats come from WhoScored.com and are correct as of the publish date.

10) Sergio Busquets

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 32 appearances
  • 0 goals
  • 5 assists
  • 91.3% pass success
  • 1.8 tackles per game

9) Declan Rice

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 32 appearances
  • 2 goals
  • 1 assist
  • 88% pass success
  • 1.8 tackles per game

8) Frenkie de Jong

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 35 appearances
  • 3 goals
  • 4 assists
  • 91.9% pass success
  • 1.2 tackles per game

7) Marcelo Brozovic

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 29 appearances
  • 2 goals
  • 6 assists
  • 89.6% pass success
  • 1.6 tackles per game

6) Wilfred Ndidi

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 25 appearances
  • 1 goal
  • 4 assists
  • 86.9% pass success
  • 3.7 tackles per game

5) Fabinho

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 28 appearances
  • 0 goals
  • 0 assists
  • 90.3% pass success
  • 1.9 tackles per game

4) Casemiro

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 32 appearances
  • 6 goals
  • 4 assists
  • 83.9% pass success
  • 2.5 tackles per game

3) Rodri

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 31 appearances
  • 2 goals
  • 2 assists
  • 91.3% pass success
  • 2.1 tackles per game

2) Joshua Kimmich

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 25 appearances
  • 4 goals
  • 10 assists
  • 86.3% pass success
  • 1.5 tackles per game

1) N’Golo Kante

Image Credits: PA

2020/21 Season Stats:

  • 24 appearances
  • 0 goals
  • 2 assists
  • 86.5% pass success
  • 2.6 tackles per game

If this list was just midfielders, N’Golo Kante would still be top-three, but as a gameplan-wrecker the Chelsea player is without peer. A Premier League winner with Leicester, World Cup winner with France and Champions League winner with Chelsea – success follows him wherever he goes and it’s no coincidence. Injured under Frank Lampard, the 5ft 6in ball of energy was rejuvenated under Thomas Tuchel, allowing his dynamism to drive the Blues to an FA Cup final and European glory.

Image Credits: PA

Featured Image Credit: PA Images

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