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The new La Liga season starts tomorrow, and it promises to bring a plethora of changes. Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos have moved to Paris Saint-Germain, leaving the captaincy of Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively. Trying to cope with change, clubs will desperately be looking for some inspiration and we believe it is set to come from the middle of the park.
La Liga has come to be known for breeding some of the best midfielders the world has ever seen, and the current crop of the 2021-22 season looks destined to follow the path paved by their predecessors. So, without further ado, let us take a look at the clubs' potential source of inspiration. Without further ado, here are the
Top 5 midfielders to keep an eye on in the 2021-22 La Liga season
#5 Rodrigo de Paul - Atletico Madrid
Beating the odds, Atletico Madrid finished at the top of the La Liga table last season. They will take on considerably weakened Barcelona and Real Madrid outfits this season and will look to do the double over them.
While both Real Madrid and Barcelona have lost invaluable assets, Atletico have brought in a revered midfield talent who goes by the name of Rodrigo de Paul. De Paul, who signed from Udinese Calcio in the summer, is set to be one of the first names on the team sheet for Diego Simeone. We expect him to have a telling impact.
The new Atletico Madrid midfielder was one of the best players for Argentina at Copa America 2021 and played a crucial role in orchestrating Lionel Messi’s first international trophy. He has a proven track record of dominating the middle of the pitch and popping up with goals every now and then. We expect to see more of the same from the 27-year-old in the 2021-22 La Liga season.
#4 Marcos Llorente - Atletico Madrid
After he failed to evict Casemiro from the defensive midfield position, Real Madrid reluctantly sold Marcos Llorente to rivals Atletico Madrid. So far, the unexpected move has been a blessing for the young Spaniard.
Last season, Diego Simeone shuffled his pack to give Marcos Llorente a more advanced role on the pitch. Thanks to his long strides and endless stamina, he proved himself to be quite a handful, and provided Atletico with a blend of attacking flourish and midfield stability.
Llorente was deployed as a central midfielder, attacking midfielder, secondary striker, and even as a right midfielder. His versatility shone through, and he was successful in each of those positions. He ended the season with 12 goals and 11 assists - numbers that many attackers could not match in the league.
#3 Federico Valverde - Real Madrid
Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde has become a fan favorite at Real Madrid and La Liga. That's not just because he famously tackled Atletico Madrid’s Alvaro Morata in the Spanish Super Cup final in the 2019-20 season.
Over the last two years, Federico Valverde has been Real Madrid’s preferred fourth-choice midfielder, behind Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro. Under Zinedine Zidane, he was also deployed alongside the chosen three, which allowed him to showcase his versatility even further.
Valverde suffered some serious injuries last season, which saw him sit out 14 La Liga matches. He played a part in the remaining 24 matches, netting three goals and providing an assist. With Kroos ruled out for the first couple of months of the season, Valverde will look to capitalise on the opportunity and make himself one of the key players under Carlo Ancelotti.
#2 Frenkie de Jong - Barcelona
Frenkie de Jong was at the heart of the golden batch of Ajax — the one that made its way into the semi-finals of the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League. Convinced by his performances, Barcelona pulled the trigger in the summer of 2019 and brought the player to La Liga.
Frenkie de Jong may not have won either La Liga or the UEFA Champions League yet, but the player has been showcasing his skills on the ball since his very first La Liga encounter. With Lionel Messi gone, de Jong will have the responsibility to take a more creative role in the middle of the park and regularly feed balls to the likes of Memphis Depay and Kun Aguero.
He was a dominating presence in the middle of the park for Barcelona in the 2020-21 La Liga season, and he is expected to pick right where he left off in the 2021-22 edition. Last season, he featured in 37 league games for the Catalan club, pitching in with three goals and four assists.
#1 Pedri - Barcelona
La Liga outfit Barcelona have a reputation for developing world class midfielders and this youngster is the club’s current posterboy. Only 18 years of age, Pedri has already represented the Spanish senior side in Euros and was a part of the Spain U-23 side that won a silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Pedri was a part of UD Las Palmas’ youth system in 2018/19 and made his senior team debut in August 2019. Despite being only 16 years old at the time, Pedri demonstrated exemplary work on the ball and was soon snatched up by Barcelona for an initial fee of 5 million euros. In his debut season, he featured in 37 games for Barcelona in La Liga, scoring three goals and registering three assists.
He played a whopping 73 games in the 2020-21 season, for club and country combined. Despite the insane workload he put in, he has cut his vacation short and is set to rejoin Barcelona training on the 12th of August. Brilliant on the pitch, and an exemplary student off of it, Pedri looks all set to light up the 2021-22 La Liga season.
