Madrid’s Deep-Lying Playmaker Dilemma Part II:  Potential Solutions

Read Part One Here Toni Kroos was the orchestra conductor during his 10 year run at Real Madrid, pulling the strings to set the tempo for the team’s attack, providing pause when needed and verticality when the opportunity presented itself. The German midfielder was also a specialist in switches – passes from one flank of the pitch to the other – to create numerical advantages on the field. Since Kroos’s departure, the Madrid midfield has not had a clear leader demanding the ball to play out from the back and capable of knowing when to slow things down and when to speed them up at the appropriate time during the match.

Kroos averaged over 80 passes per 90 minutes in La Liga in six of his final seven seasons at Real Madrid. That included 100 (2023/2024 season) and 97 (2022/2023 season) pass attempts per 90 during the German great’s final two seasons at the club. To put that in perspective, this season, only eight midfielders who have logged at least 1000 minutes in the top five European leagues are averaging 80+ pass attempts per 90 : Vitinha (116.

6), Aleix García (104), Joshua Kimmich (103. 9), Aleksandar Pavlović (98. 8), Rodri (96.

6), Pedri (87), Frenkie de Jong (83. 5) and Manuel Locatelli (83). Amongst Madrid midfielders, Tchouaméni leads with less than 65 pass attempts per 90.