After the era of greats such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes passed them by, England could never have expected to once again be blessed with such a wealth of midfield quality so soon. But with the dark days of the early to mid-2010s behind them, the Three Lions find themselves with another group capable of something special.
The list of names is headlined by Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice - generational talents who have blossomed into masters of their respective trades in the middle of the park, and on whom so much expectation is pinned. But others have emerged to shoulder the burden, too.
The responsibility of finding the right formula in the midfield is clearly weighing on head coach Gareth Southgate. Asked which area of the pitch was hardest to balance, he said recently: "Midfield. You’re always wondering what is the right balance. It’s different for different opponents. But it’s also the area where we don’t have a midfield organiser with the ball, like Jorginho, [Sergio] Busquets, [Toni] Kroos or [Luka] Modric. In my lifetime, we’ve rarely produced that type of player in England, so we’ve got different profiles of six. So is it a six and eights or a double six and a 10?"
With Euro 2024 fast approaching, Southgate must find the right solution to set the foundations for a potentially dominant future, or else he risks wasting another golden midfield generation.
