Transfer spending may be restricted to the summer and January windows, but planning happens year-round. Recruitment is now a long-term game: complex, competitive, and difficult to master.
History has shown this to be the case, with approximately 50% of signings failing to meet expectations ('How to win the Premier League', Graham 2023) and many struggling to secure consistent playing time during their first two seasons.
The majority of clubs are now using data in one form or another to reduce the risk of costly mistakes, with forward-thinking clubs looking for more and more specificity in their profiling to find exactly what they need.
SkillCorner’s Game Intelligence data provides unprecedented granularity and depth, helping clubs pinpoint specific player profiles that deliver the technical and tactical elements they’re looking for - on and off the ball, in and out of possession.
In this new series, we'll adopt the approach of a club, identifying and analysing specific player roles using the most unique metrics available from our Game Intelligence data.
Our first target is a creative attacking midfielder, or number #10.
The profile we’re looking for is:
“... an attacking midfielder who operates between the lines, links play effectively in tight areas, receives on the half-turn, plays forward, and creates chances and goal-scoring opportunities.”
Who are these midfielders that unlock games from the half-space, and how can Game Intelligence help to find them in less obvious places?
For this case study, we’ll analyse players based on their ability to find space, impact the game and create opportunities in the Finish phase, with the opponent positioned in a low block.
(Click here for a video explainer of our unique Phase of Play model)
We’re looking for players who position themselves in the ‘half-spaces’ between the opposition’s midfield and defensive lines to receive the ball, create dangerous situations and tempt opposing defenders out of position.
We can identify this by looking at options for line break receptions through and around the second last line.
Looking at options and not just touches means players are credited for being in the right position, regardless of whether their teammate plays the pass.
The image below illustrates the two types of line-breaking passes we aim to analyse. The first option goes through the block, while the second goes around it. We’ll refer to the space between the opponent’s defence and midfield as the area played through or around the second-last line:
In the scatter plot below, we highlight the players in the “Big Five” European leagues who most frequently position themselves to receive line-breaking passes through or around the second last line:
On the x-axis, we show the number of times a player is available for a pass through the opponent’s second last line. Dani Olmo ranks highest in this metric, closely followed by his teammate Fermín López. On the y-axis, we measure availability for passes around the second line, where Florian Wirtz leads the way.
Wirtz’s positioning indicates his tendency to drift out wide to receive the ball, but his high score for through-the-line availability suggests he also varies his movement to find pockets of space in central areas.
As The Athletic’s Michael Cox observed earlier this season after watching Wirtz’s Bayer Leverkusen draw 0-0 with Bayern:
“...As usual, everything revolved around Wirtz. He is a brilliant player in possession, capable of dribbling past opponents, playing clever through-balls, and scoring goals. But he’s also a truly outstanding player in terms of his movement before receiving the ball. He might be the best player in the world at finding space between the lines, away from the opposition midfielders.”
Other notable names appearing prominently in both metrics include Oihan Sancet (Athletic Club), Weston McKennie (Juventus), and Phil Foden (Manchester City), all players who frequently operate between the lines.
So far, we’ve identified who gets into the right spaces. But what happens once they receive the ball?
The next question we want to answer is: which players link play efficiently and drive their teams forward?
To answer this question, we can rank midfielders using a brand-new on-ball metric: Forward Momentum, which captures how effectively a player plays forward after receiving the ball.
Forward Momentum is recorded when a player receives a pass from the back or from the side with an opponent less than 6 metres away and executes a progressive action, for example:
- Receiving on the half-turn and playing forwardThis metric helps us identify midfielders that find space between the lines and use those moments to accelerate play, break structure, and move their team up the pitch with purpose.
In the scatter plot, we have highlighted the players with the most possessions in the Finish phase (x-axis) and players with the highest counts for Forward Momentum (y-axis):
Florian Wirtz has the highest share of possessions in the Finish phase. However, Cole Palmer, Jamal Musiala, Dani Olmo and Phil Foden all averaged more than 1.3 forward momentum actions per 30 TIP. These are midfielders who consistently drive play forward in decisive moments and act as key link-up players in their teams' final-third progression.
A sharp eye may have spotted Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers in the previous chart. In the visualisation below, his impact becomes even clearer. Rogers leads all players in Forward Momentum actions as a share of total possessions:
While that figure might initially seem modest, it’s important to consider the context: these actions are taking place in Finish phase, i.e. against a settled low block, where space is at a premium. That makes Rogers' ability to consistently receive the ball with Forward Momentum even more impressive.
It's also interesting to note that the top three players are all products of Manchester City's academy.
To further our analysis, we can also rank players by their ability to carry the ball in the Finish phase:
In this bar chart, we rank midfielders based on the number of carries covering at least 8 meters. Florian Wirtz ranks first with an average of 9 carries per game, and he’s in strong company alongside other well-known attacking midfielders such as Martin Ødegaard and Isco. There are also some less high-profile names at the top of the list: Yann Gboho (Toulouse), Dwight McNeil (Everton) and Paul Nebel (Mainz 05).
So far, we’ve identified which players consistently operate between the lines and those who help their teams progress the ball from these spaces. But this still doesn't tell us who turns these moments into real value for the team.
To complete the picture, our final requirement shifts the focus closer to the goal, to understand which players are the most effective at converting these situations into actual chances and scoring opportunities.
In the scatter plot below, we show how often midfielders attempt passes to runs in behind (x-axis) and to cross receiver runs (y-axis) during the Finish phase:
Florian Wirtz stands out as one of the most complete playmakers in our sample. He has ranked among the best across nearly every metric in our analysis, from his movement between the lines to his progressive actions in the final third.
This final chart is no different, with Wirtz leading the way in combined pass attempts to both runs in behind and cross receiver runs.
Other standouts include Rodrigo de Paul (Atletico Madrid) who ranks second for pass attempts to runs in behind, and 21-year-old Gvidas Gineitis (Torino) - the only player ranking above Wirtz in pass attempts to cross-receivers.
Lastly, Yann Gboho (Toulouse), a 24 year old attacking midfielder, who has recorded 5 goals and 4 assists this season, ranking highly for both metrics.
Elite creators like Wirtz and De Bruyne attempt many passes, but they also get more opportunities playing in possession dominant teams. This raises an important question: how do we evaluate risk-taking midfielders in lesser-known teams who don’t get as many opportunities?
We can start to answer that question by examining the percentage of pass attempts relative to a player's total opportunities.
In the bar chart below, we highlight the players with the highest pass attempt rates, using a minimum threshold of 1.5 opportunities per 30 TIP to focus on players who are regularly involved in chance creation:
Gineitis is the clear outlier here, attempting 90 per cent of his opportunities. The previous scatter plot showed that the vast majority of his passes are directed toward cross-receivers, indicating that he tends to identify those opportunities and targets them aggressively.
Interestingly, of the 30 games Gineitis played for Torino last season, only 15 were starts, showing how data can surface intriguing profiles that might otherwise fly under the radar.
Just below Gineitis is another aggressive passer: Paul Wanner, a 19-year-old Bayern Munich youth product that spent last season on loan at Heidenheim in the Bundesliga.
Wanner attempts 70% of his available passes, but with a more balanced distribution; averaging 0.52 to cross-receiver runs and 0.69 in behind, highlighting his potential as a Modern Playmaker.
So far, we’ve demonstrated how Game Intelligence can be used to profile these midfielders - from their movements before receiving the ball to their impact in the final third - all while factoring in key match context.
In the final part of our analysis, we bring it all together to identify the most complete Modern Playmakers in European football.
The Playmaker Index score captures the complete playmaker profile by blending performance across the three key requirements we've focused on:
In order to create a shortlist of interesting prospects, we’ve calculated percentiles and assigned value based on the metrics above. The Modern Playmaker will score above average in all metrics.
Below, we have the top 15 players across the “Big Five” European leagues, ranked by their overall Playmaker Index:
Florian Wirtz tops the Playmaker Index, narrowly edging out Phil Foden and Xavi Simons. What sets Wirtz apart is his consistency as he ranks among the top two across all key requirements.
He is only surpassed by Oihan Sancet for movement between the lines and by Phil Foden for progressive actions, but ranks first for chance creation in the Finish phase.
The ranking includes a variety of lesser-known names that may be options for elite clubs looking to identify the next generation of playmakers.
While the standout performers in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues are likely to carry premium price tags, the same Playmaker Index framework can be applied to identify talent in emerging markets.
Below, we highlight top-performing midfielders from the “Next Five” leagues: the Eredivisie, Belgian Pro League, Primeira Liga, Turkey’s Süper Lig, and the Czech First League:
This chart highlights several lesser-known young players.
Just below two experienced playmakers, Dusan Tadic and Dries Mertens, we find 17-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas, who has already recorded 3 goals and 2 assists in his 20 starts for Genk this season.
It’s no surprise to find another promising young player in the Belgian Pro League; our partners at Scouted highlighted the consistent flow of young talent from the Pro League in a recent piece.
Just below Karetsas is Levi Smans, a 22-year-old attacking midfielder playing for Herenveen. Smans scored highly for all of our requirements, excelling in movement, progression and chance creation in the finish phase.
A bit further down the list, we find Luciano Valente, a 21-year-old attacking midfielder at FC Groningen. Now in his third straight season of regular first-team football, Valente has tallied 7 assists and 2 goals this campaign and recently earned a call-up to the Netherlands U21 squad.
His standout trait is progression: ranking first for Forward Momentum Actions per 30 TIP and trailing only Kacper Kozłowski in Forward Momentum possession share during the Finish phase. Standing at 189 cm, Valente blends physical presence with technical quality, also ranking in the top five for 8M carries in the finish phase.
Finally, 18-year-old Rodrigo Mora (FC Porto) excels at finding space between the lines, ranking first for combined line break opportunities through and around the second last line. He’s also proving clinical in front of goal, with 10 goals and 4 assists in just 16 starts (23 total appearances).
In this article, we’ve shown how scouts and analysts can use SkillCorner’s Game Intelligence data to perform detailed, role-specific player profiling.
As a reminder, here’s the profile we’re looking for:
“... an attacking midfielder who operates between the lines, links play effectively in tight areas, receives on the half-turn, plays forward, and creates chances and goal-scoring opportunities.”
By systematically translating these football requirements into clearly-defined metrics, we've captured the actions and movements identified in the profile, and narrowed our focus to the Finish phase.
Our exploration of the modern playmaker serves as just one example of how Game Intelligence data empowers scouts and analysts. With the flexibility to combine and tailor metrics, clubs can craft targeted, precise player profiles and be more confident that the players flagged by the data can deliver what the team needs from a technical and tactical perspective.
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