This article looks at 25 midfielders selected by popular choice and focuses on how quickly they move the ball on after receiving it. The idea is simple: what happens in the first touch or two?
In this piece, a quick release means the player moves the ball on immediately: the next pass is played within two seconds of the reception, or from within a one-meter radius of where the ball was received. Results are grouped by the direction the player was facing at reception (left/right/back to goal/facing
goal) and the direction of the release.
We calculated the percentage that captures how often a midfielder uses their first or second touch to undo the direction of pressure rather than accept it. A high value means that when the ball arrives from one side of the body, the player is consistently redirecting play into the opposite channel—left to right, right to left, back to forward, or forward back—within a quick-release window. In practical terms, this is a proxy for orientation awareness and decision speed under constraint: scanning before the ball arrives and redirecting it into the opposite direction of the reception.
It is not a measure of risk-taking or verticality on its own; rather, it reflects a player’s tendency to reset the angle of play at the moment possession is most fragile, when time is shortest. High percentages tend to belong to midfielders who act as circulation pivots or pressure valves, while lower values often indicate players who prefer continuity in the same lane, safer rebounds, or progressive actions taken after carrying rather than immediately on reception.
- Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain) — 56.5%
- Martín Zubimendi (Real Sociedad) — 53.1%
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) — 49.1%
- Pedri (FC Barcelona) — 48.5%
- Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid) — 48.3%
- Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter Milan) — 47.4%
- Declan Rice (Arsenal) — 47.3%
- Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid) — 47.1%
- Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid) — 46.8%
- Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea) — 45.6%
- Federico Valverde (Real Madrid) — 45.2%
- Enzo Fernández (Chelsea) — 44.9%
- Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace) — 44.4%
- Pablo Barrios (Atlético Madrid) — 43.9%
- Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan) — 43.6%
- Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool) — 43.4%
- Frenkie de Jong (FC Barcelona) — 43.1%
- Koke (Atlético Madrid) — 42.8%
- Arda Güler (Real Madrid) — 42.5%
- Nico Paz (Como) — 41.9%
- Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest) — 41.6%
- Luka Modrić (Real Madrid) — 40.8%
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter Milan) — 39.7%
- Scott McTominay (Manchester United) — 38.2%
- Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich) — 36.9%
The next list shows how often a player plays a forward pass when they receive the ball already facing the goal. It only counts possessions where the body orientation is forward at reception and checks whether the next action is also a forward release, within the quick-release window.
- Federico Valverde (Real Madrid) — 19.3%
- Arda Güler (Real Madrid) — 17.7%
- Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan) — 17.6%
- Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid) — 16.7%
- Nico Paz (Como) — 15.8%
- Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich) — 15.8%
- Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool) — 14.6%
- Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea) — 14.3%
- Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace) — 14.3%
- Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest) — 13.7%
- Pedri (FC Barcelona) — 13.1%
- Koke (Atlético Madrid) — 11.7%
- Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid) — 10.8%
- Luka Modrić (Real Madrid) — 10.8%
- Pablo Barrios (Atlético Madrid) — 10.1%
- Martín Zubimendi (Real Sociedad) — 9.7%
- Enzo Fernández (Chelsea) — 9.4%
- Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter Milan) — 7.9%
- Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain) — 7.3%
- Frenkie de Jong (FC Barcelona) — 6.8%
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter Milan) — 5.3%
- Declan Rice (Arsenal) — 4.3%
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) — 3.7%
This analysis is based on a defined sample of 25 midfielders, selected for comparative study. It does not represent a league-wide ranking or percentile standing across all midfielders in the top five European leagues. The figures should be read as relative tendencies within this specific group, not as absolute judgments of overall quality or style.
The dataset will be expanded in a future update to include a broader midfield population. All event data is sourced from Opta and captured up to December 10 of the current season.
