Midfielders
Defensive midfielder: N’Golo Kante
In the wake of his blockbusting display against Manchester United, N’Golo Kante was dubbed the best midfielder in the world by Frank Lampard. The 25-year-old box-to-box midfielder made the most interceptions (156) and the most tackles (175) in the 2015/16 Premier League season, becoming the catalyst in a title-winning midfield for Leicester City.
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Since his transition to Chelsea, Leicester have fallen short of last campaign’s successes, whilst the Blues have risen to the pinnacle of the Premier League. Kante is physically strong, intelligent in his reading of the game and has unrivalled stamina, rendering him an excellent candidate to physically dominate the ‘Team of the Future’.
The Frenchman will be approaching the latter stages of his career in 2022 and will therefore have added to his existing knowledge and experience of the game, and perhaps officially be recognised as the most formidable middle-man in world football.
Other notable mentions: Julian Weigl, William Carvalho, Granit Xhaka
Central midfielder: Max Meyer
‘Mini-Max’, as his team-mates dub him, is the latest development in a production line of supreme young talent being churned out at Gelsenkirchen side Schalke 04. The 21-year-old has already made a remarkable 116 appearances for the Royal Blues, and is renowned as one of the fiercest attacking prospects in the German side.
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It’s from his training regime combining regular workouts with ‘Futsal’ practice, that he has developed unparalleled technique for one so young and fantastic ball control. Meyer is versatile and can play on the flank as well as through the centre.
Meyer created the second most chances of any Schalke player last term (45), maintaining the highest average shot accuracy in the side too (72%). He may be an unusual choice for many but it’s the fact that Meyer has already been a regular performer at the very highest level at just 21-years-old which asserts that he will be one of the best in his position in the years to come.
Other notable mentions: Marco Verratti, Saul Niguez, Renato Sanches
Central midfielder: Paul Pogba
Following his £89.3 million transfer to Manchester United last summer, Paul Pogba initially failed to match the astronomical expectations laid out by Premier League followers. Since then though, he has created more chances than any other United player (50) as well as having made the most key passes (47).
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The Frenchman has also made the second highest number of successful passes in the division this term with 1,844 and is beginning to master the basics once more. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest he warrants such a gargantuan price tag, given that he has attained the reputation of France’s most promising talent for the future and was arguably Juve’s best player for a number of years.
Other notable mentions: Koke, Dele Alli, Thiago
