No. 10 on the back of a footballer means more than any other number historically, it means they are a special player. Someone with magic in their boots and the privilege of being purely offensive, at least it did. In 2022 as football becomes more positionless the era of the pure attacking midfielder might be dying out.
Diego Maradona, Rivaldo, Francesco Totti, Michel Platini, and Ronaldinho. Those are just a few names in the pantheon of great attacking midfielders. Purely offensive footballers, out on the pitch to do the undefendable and inadvertently become sources of joy for millions watching around the globe.
Bruno Fernandes, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Joelinton, and Jamal Musiala are all currently listed on Transfermarkt as mainly being attacking midfielders. De Bruyne has played deeper more often this season, Silva is renowned for his workrate and tenacity, Joelinton has transformed from a poor hold up forward into an all action player, and Musiala despite his young age shows defensive maturity.
Fernandes is the only player in this list close to what a traditional attacking midfielder would be recognised as, excellent going forward but very much pigeonholed into a role where he has to be carried defensively. He isn’t the only player like this in the game today and won’t be the last, these footballers will always be around. However the systems which allow them to shine are less common.
The Glory years of the CAM?
It’s easy to look back and say that in previous decades pure CAMs were all the range, that this modern era of statistics and Gegenpressing means we are being robbed of football’s most endearing player. First, and I apologise for this, I need to take you dear reader to a cursed land, Britain. The country which loathes the attacking midfielder the most.
A nation as football mad as Britain has produced some outstanding players in the attacking midfielder role, but to say they were universally accepted is far from the truth. Glen Hoddle and Chris Waddle both spent the late 80’s and early 90’s in France, a move to the continent more befitting to their playstyle which didn’t fit the physical, agricultural football played in England at the time.
By the time Waddle and Hoddle had moved into managerial roles a young man was making waves at West Ham. Joe Cole won multiple Premier League winners medals at Chelsea and won 56 England caps, but he still is a ‘what if?’ question. His undeniable ability and quality when playing through the middle gave England a footballer who seemed like they were straight out of the Barrios of Argentina or the sun-kissed pitches of Spain. Instead Cole was relegated to playing on the flanks under José Mourinho. A wild stallion broken by the authoritarian management of one of the game’s strictest system coaches.
England’s most infamous pure attacking midfielder right now is Dele Ali, currently on loan at Beşiktas from Everton. Dele, as he likes to be known, burst onto the scene with MK Dons in the early 2010’s, before arriving on the world stage with Tottenham Hotspur in 2016.
Accused of being lazy and difficult to coach, it has to be mentioned that Dele was, like Cole, under the management of Mourinho. Unlike Cole, Dele was allowed to play just behind the striker for a time at Spurs and showed good form. Eventually he fell out of favour with the Portuguese manager and is seemingly on a decline. Internet discourse appears to view Dele as being a player who has fallen victim to the trend of tactical systems, that had he been around in previous decades his talent would be allowed to shine even if he didn’t gel with the manager and was temperamental.
So if England is the place CAM’s are cursed to live a pitiful existence, surely the rest of Europe must be different? Zinedine Zidane carried France to two international honours, the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000. He remains a legend with his playing legacy practically untarnished. Even when had the tendency to go quiet in big games, getting marked out the Champions League Final by Paul Lambert in 1997 as an example, and his poor discipline at times.
Whatever you think of Zidane as a footballer there is no denying he was an absolute monster when he was on it. Standing over 6ft tall with the technique of someone half a foot shorter he was a different animal. Any downsides were put by the wayside due to the fact he had so much ability in his feet he was impossible to ignore.
Diego Maradona in his peak years was a terrible trainer, had unhealthy off field habits, and possibly had connections to organised crime in Naples. Yet I don’t need to say much about the man who mugged off Peter Shilton. He was in my opinion, the most naturally talented footballer the world has ever seen. The archetypal CAM.
Kaká’s performances from the attacking midfield position won him the Ballon d’or in 2007, as well as a place in all of our hearts. The Brazilian ran the show in the mid 2000’s making himself arguably the world’s favourite footballer, before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo completely took over for the next decade and a half.
So if these players are so damn good, why is it that they feel like players from a bygone era? I believe there is more to it than just modern stats nerds like myself preferring an all round footballer.
The CAM’s Role in the Modern Game and how Thomas Müller remains relevant
Jonathan Wilson’s excellent book Inverting The Pyramid goes into painstaking detail about the popular and important tactical themes throughout the history of football. Tactics evolve over time due to a number of reasons, with the biggest one probably being whatever works people copy. An 11 person formation cannot encompass every role in the sport, the trend of the time will have to sacrifice a certain type of player. Say a team is playing a high pressing system, relying on all action players willing to dig in and run their guts out, it makes a lot less sense to have a footballer who is at their best with the ball at their feet and prefers to float around freely.
Thomas Müller at Bayern Munich is one of the most revolutionary footballers of the modern era, popularising the Raumdeuter (translates as “space invader”) role. Müller began his career in the late 2000’s, when many of his contemporaries were enjoying the halcyon days of the 10. So how did a player who is so offensive focused in theory be one of the most important parts in a hard working off ball team?
As the name suggests a Raumdeuter looks for areas to run into, pretending to be a non threat before bursting past the defence and into open ground. Raumdeuter remains an uncommon role in football, even a decade one since it was popularised. A Raumdeuter has to be very intelligent, they have to read the game better than anyone else on the pitch. Unlike a speedy poacher or an inside forward they do not burst into space, but find it where others wouldn’t think to look.
The reason Müller remained a fixture in the team for so long is due to three things. Firstly, his offensive qualities deem that Bayern would not benefit from not playing him. Secondly, he is supported by a midfield who will pick up his work for him. Marcel Sabitzer, Leon Goretzka, and Joshua Kimmich allow Müller to be the best player he can be for the team. Finally, he is an aerial threat which is vital if Bayern need to play more direct and when balls need to be won in the air.
The modern CAM is a more well rounded player. Take Julian Brandt at Borussia Dortmund, this season he has played the majority of games through the middle, but has near endless versatility when you look at the positions he’s featured in throughout his career.
The least number of games a 26-year-old has played in a role is at Centre Forward, where he played five games. For every other position he is in double digits, only the roles in defence are yet to be conquered by the German. This shows a footballing intelligence and as a consequence Brandt is more than just an attacking midfielder.
His numbers back this up, as they outline the hard work and graft Brandt does in the Dortmund midfield. He is very much not our idea of what an attacking midfielder is, or was. In spite of that players like Brandt are the present and the future.
Where Can You Still Find a “Pure CAM”?
The “pure CAM” isn’t dying out, it will never die. Could a traditional no.10 work at Manchester City in 2022? I’d argue no. Could they work at Accrington Stanley? More likely. The environment certainly makes a difference, a slower league or one with less quality is a happy hunting ground for a CAM.
Will we see many CAMs at the World Cup? I’d be surprised considering how fine the margins are for defeat, defensive football is often prioritised in knockout formats. The relevance of a traditional CAM has shrunk overall I would argue, but their benefits are still recognised.
I think it is true that the game is becoming more system based, that hardwork and a team being more than the sum of their parts is the goal nowadays. But this doesn’t mean that an incredibly talented player has to make way for a more industrious footballer. Nabil Fekir at Betis being a prime example.
Betis are not a rich side, LaLiga sides outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona do not have the financial means to get ahead that a Premier League side would, Yet they are content to have a player who leaves them vulnerable off the ball spearheading their midfield. Is this a disadvantage? Yeah, no doubt. Does anyone care? Absolutely not. He’s so damn good to watch and brings so much magic to the pitch he needs to be on.
Teams who are fighting against the tide financially have to think differently. Atalanta became one of the best sides in Europe playing with two CAMs with an incredible attacking style. It was an unprecedented method of playing for teams to face which was facilitated due to the midfielders behind them picking up the pieces. The style had weaknesses which could be exploited, however Atalanta would arguably have never become the fairytale they were if they hadn’t played in such a manner.
Although he’s a wideman, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at Napoli may well be the closest thing their fans ever come to loving someone anywhere close to Maradona. Known as “Kvaradona” his footballing development was in Georgia, then Russia. I had never heard of this guy before this season, I gather many were the same. To watch him play is a dream, he thinks like a guy who knows just how talented he is. He might not make the efficient decision, he often makes the fun one, just because he can. He’s not a 10, but he is in spirit.
The “pure CAM” is a unicorn of a footballer. Someone where stats do them no justice and their quality with the ball at their feet outweighs any disadvantages. They develop differently, they retain a childlike innocence when playing the game. The system ordented academies didn’t change them, they have one way to play football and that is the only way they’ll play it.
Attacking midfielders like all footballers now are expected to do far more than they used to have to do, it’s likely that the rarity of a “pure CAM” at the absolute top level of the game is going to increase, their standing in football has changed but they are not eradicated.
