Attacking midfielders

An attacking midfielder receives passes from deeper midfielders, turns quickly, and plays forward to the strikers. They create chances with through balls, slide passes for runners and crosses from inside positions. They also take long-range shots when the path through is closed.

Off the ball, an attacking midfielder makes runs into the gaps between defenders and arrives in the penalty area late, when the centre backs are focused on the strikers in front of them. Many attacking midfielders score goals as well as create them.

To say a team needs a number 10 almost always means they need a creative attacking midfielder. The position is so closely tied to the number that it has become part of the language of football. The classic number 10 is usually a creator first and a goalscorer second — comfortable in tight spaces, able to beat opponents one-on-one, and capable of finding passes that others miss.

Some teams build their whole attack around a number 10. The midfielders feed them the ball, the wide players make runs based on what they do, and the strikers stretch defences to give them space to operate in.

An attacking midfielder usually starts in midfield and looks to create chances from between the lines. Their first job is to connect the midfield to the front line.

A second striker usually starts closer to the centre forward and is more directly part of the attack. They may create chances, but they also make more forward runs beyond the main striker and into the box.

The classic number 10 sits behind the strikers in formations such as 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2. In a 4-2-3-1, the attacking midfielder is the central player in the three behind the lone striker. In a 4-3-1-2, they sit alone behind two strikers, with three central midfielders behind them.

In a 4-3-3, the role is often distributed. There may not be a single attacking midfielder; instead, two of the midfield three operate as attacking number 8s and the wide forwards drift inside. The creative work is shared between several players rather than handed to one.

In modern football, the pure number 10 is rarer than it used to be. Teams want their attacking midfielder to press, defend, and contribute when the team does not have the ball. Many of the players who would have been classic number 10s in the past now play as attacking number 8s in midfield threes, where they can use their creativity but also share the defensive workload.

Different football traditions have produced different specialist versions of the role — the advanced playmaker as the modern number 10, the trequartista with even more freedom, the Argentine enganche as a fixed creative pivot, the false ten pushing higher into the front line, the shadow striker built around runs into the box. The creative job has been spread across more players in many teams, with the choice of which variant to use telling you where the team wants its creativity to come from.

A possession team often gives a number 10 freedom in the half-spaces to find passes between the lines. A counter-attacking team usually wants an attacking midfielder who can drive forward with the ball and shoot from distance. A pressing team needs an attacking midfielder who will work back to close down opposition midfielders, not only one who creates with the ball.

These choices shape what kind of player fills the role, and whether the team uses a single attacking midfielder at all or distributes the creative work between several players. The full guide to the different attacking midfielder roles, and which one fits which system, sits in the tactics section.