5 midfield combinations we would like to see this season

#2 James Rodriguez, Thiago Alcantara and Arturo Vidal

They will be playing in the same jerseys this season

While Corentin Tolisso is the record inclusion for Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich, it is actually James Rodriguez I am more looking forward to. The Colombian has been brought in to provide a burst of creativity in the final third – and he is more than likely to do that.

Tactically, his presence in the midfield makes more sense than one would think. The former Real Madrid man is a purely attacking midfielder who doesn’t really provide tactical balance to a 3-man midfield. However, when playing alongside Thiago Alcantara and Arturo Vidal, things are a little different.

Both Vidal and Alcantara took their game to another level this past season, especially the latter. Thiago’s massive improvement in both attack and defence has been pleasing to the eye while the Chilean Vidal was always a tenacious, robust midfielder.

When paired alongside the two, James won’t have to worry about defending and that could bring out his A-game. At Real Madrid, he was almost always paired with other creative players, forcing him to make contribute defensively.

With Thiago’s telepathic intercepting abilities and Vidal’s crunching tackles, James’ delicate through-balls and sizzling ball-control could rappear – making Bayern a force to be reckoned with.