Greatest Defensive Midfielder of all Time?

[Stray Wasp]

Deleted post- I pressed the wrong button!

 

[Corto]

Admittedly, the changes to the backpass, tackling from behind and offside rules also mean that their defensive duties are more important than ever, so as usual evolutions bring challenges as well as benefits.

Good point, not only did the roles change, so did the game - making the comparisons even harder. For me, anyway.

 

[gary69]

Like Stray Wasp and Corto have said, it's impossible to compare the players on this list strictly by the DM role, when most can't be classified as being only that.

 

[Albatros]

Like Corto, I think of Matthaus (I still can't be bothered to master umlauts, I'm afraid) more as a box-to-box midfielder.

Matthaeus