Super Eagles and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi has gained media traction recently, the reason is his defensive ability in the midfield which has attracted EPL giants like Manchester United to look the way of the player.
But lack of creative abilities by Ndidi has limited his attractiveness to club's coaches who would want his services. But that could be change if the Super Eagles man work on his weaknesses. Wilfred is known for his short passes to his nearest man and lacks that ability to hit that long range and key passes to his attackers.
Ndidi style of play has put the Super Eagles player to a dependent state on working along side creative and technical center Midfielder, this dependency has limited him irrespective of the unavailable center Midfielder to man and command the midfield alone like top Defensive Midfielder we all wish him to be.
In modern football, players at different department or position are now required to posses skills and abilities in nearly all around from having passing accuracy, short and long range passes, flexibility, eye all around, ball control and penetration of opponents defenses. These abilities an individual players posses are what exceptionally separates elite players to an average or standard players.
The ability to pass the ball creatively be it long or short range is no longer rest on the shoulders of the creative midfielder alone. Modern Keepers today are required by elitist coach like Pep to give an accurate long passes. Even right and left backs are demanded to have by the abilities to attack upfront along side accurate long range crosses.
Today keepers like Manual Nuer, Ederson, Allison and Oblak are reverence for the abilities on the ball work, control and passes they are now commonly called "player Keepers"
Ability on the Ball First
Contemporary football philosophy judges footballers by their ability OFF & ON the ball. On the ball ability are considered more requisite first before off the ball.
Top Defensive Midfielders and their Technical Abilities
5. Kessié - AC Milan
The 25-year-old Ivorian has been one of the main reasons behind AC Milan’s Serie A title charge this season. Kessié has scored 18 goals (13 from the penalty spot) and provided 6 assists since the start of the 2020/21 season, having played 55 matches to date.
Kessié is a natural dribbler who likes to run at defences while possessing a strong physique with an exceptional vision to thread even the meanest of defences. He is a versatile midfielder with an engine that never runs out.
Last season, Kessié was deployed as a deep-lying midfielder, controlling possession and dictating the play yet not holding the position of a pivot as his role would suggest. In fact, the Ivorian often ventured forward, breaking lines and creating an overload.
Kessié’s ability to play as a Number 6, dropping deep to take the ball off the defenders and playing out from the back, helps Stefano Pioli’s team to break the first line of defence, while his tenacity and aggression are his most impressive traits. Moreover, Kessié’s passing range is something worth mentioning as well, as his immaculate ability to switch play in all directions, threading long balls towards the strikers or the wide outlets (wingers) in behind the opposition defensive line, helps in breaking the lines and catch the opposition short on numbers.
This season, though, as his heatmap would suggest, Kessié has been held back a bit, acting more as a pivot.
4. Frankie De Jong:
A versatile player, de Jong is adept at playing various positions through the middle of the pitch: he can function as a regista or a deep-lying playmaker in the defensive midfielder role, a box-to-box midfielder or a roaming playmaker when deployed in a flat midfield, and even a centre-back.
Under Ronald Koeman, de Jong played in various roles. His ability to dribble in narrow spaces, his positional awareness, his tendency to lay off balls along with vision and ability to ping long balls made him one of Koeman’s most-trusted assets.
3. Casemiro
Casemiro has, without a doubt, been the most important player for Real Madrid for the last 7-8 years. A defensive midfielder who operates primarily as a box-to-box midfielder for Los Blancos, Casemiro is an intelligent, physically strong, aggressive, and tenacious midfielder with an extremely high work rate.
Moreover, apart from his standout defensive attributes, the Brazilian also supports the attacking play with his accurate long balls, playing penetrative balls to break the lines more often than not.
2. Rodri - Manchester City
Under Pep, Rodri has the potential to become a complete midfielder. He has become an excellent reader of the game while also being able to do the dirty work without getting noticed most of the time. He is a great tackler, aerially strong, and recycles possession with ease.
Moreover, this season, Rodri has been seen operating in the half-spaces inside the opposition half. City are using a higher line of defence this season, and Rodri has been used more as an anchor-man who provides the link between attack and defence.
1. Joshua Kimmich - Bayern Munich
Ever since Pep Guardiola transformed Kimmich from a high-octane fullback to a tenacious defensive midfielder, the now 27-year-old has been consistently taking his game up a notch, gradually to the point where he is now considered as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
Often regarded as the heir to the legendary Philipp Lahm, it is Kimmich’s versatility and tactical knowledge of the game that have made him the player he is today. A technically-gifted footballer with exceptional vision and ball control, Kimmich excels in both laying off short passes and breaking the lines with his accurate long balls. He has great concentration levels and positional awareness, though on the downside, it is his tackling ability that can be questionable at times.
If we take a look at his underlying stats, Kimmich is by far the best defensive midfielder in the world. He produces 4.68 SCA/90’ (Shot Creating Actions) and 0.62 GCA/90’ (Goal Creating Actions), ranking him first in the whole of Europe, while he also draws more fouls than committing them (1.85–1.03). The German also averages 2.78 key passes and 9.46 progressive passes per 90’ — again the most among midfielders.
Wilfred Ndidi technical and creative deficiencies has not put him in media limelight and that is upending the thirst by top clubs for his services. As reported, former Manchester United midfield meastro Paul Scholes has advice United to bring in the Nigerian to the theater of dreams this summer, but it seems that would be unlikely as Erik Ten Hag eyes are on De Jong who is considered as one of Europe top Defensive Midfielder.
These are elite defensive midfielders right now
Ndidi Set to Return from Injury
Wilfred Ndidi will be available to return to action with Leicester City when pre-season gets underway following the Midfielder’s full recovery from a knee injury.
Ndidi suffered the knee injury in March and required surgery, which ruled him out of the remainder of the 2021/22 season.
During his rehabilitation, the Midfielder missed 17 games for Leicester City alone in the process.
The Nigerian is on Holiday with Family following the end of the season, but recent pictures of him working on his pace and Stamina was shared by a Leicester City fan outlet on social media.
Wilfred Ndidi has been stepping up his comeback from injury as he looks to get a head start before Leicester City players return for pre-season training. [Leicester Mercury] 💪 pic.twitter.com/dHlFPtogSo
— ComeOnLeicester.com (@Come0nLeicester) June 14, 2022
Wilfred Ndidi has had three previous knee injuries between 2018 and 2020 and he was out for 73 days after suffering a tear in his abductor muscle.
The 25 year-old has two years left on his current deal at Leicester, but has also been subject of interests from some EPL teams, including Manchester United, before his latest injury set back.