{"id":656661,"date":"2025-07-07T12:53:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=656661"},"modified":"2025-07-07T12:53:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:53:43","slug":"5-midfielders-with-insane-football-iq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/07\/07\/5-midfielders-with-insane-football-iq\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Midfielders with Insane Football IQ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The midfield has always been the home of the maestro. It&#8217;s a position defined by an incredible passing ability, an ability to dictate play, and the mix of skills needed to perform both attack and defence. While it no doubt can be enhanced with physical attributes, it is a position that requires a genius mind to play at the top level. In this, we will discuss five different midfielders with incredible footballing knowledge.<\/p>\n<h2>Top 5 Midfielders with Insane Footballing IQ<\/h2>\n<h3>Kevin de Bruyne<\/h3>\n<p>You don&#8217;t achieve what De Bruyne has and last as long as he did without the mind of a genius. The Belgian has been the heart of Manchester City&#8217;s attack for some time. In an often rigid system under Pep Guardiola, there are times where the entire team looks to him for a moment of magic to unlock a defence and take the team to victory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/06\/12\/best-chelsea-players-number-29-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Best Chelsea Players to Wear the Number 29 Jersey Ever<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Having amassed 261 assists in his senior career, the veteran&#8217;s ball manipulation and ability to see and capitalise on open space is a rare trait. With a possible move to Italy on the cards it would be fitting to see the midfielder get a chance to play in such a technical league.<\/p>\n<h3>Cole Palmer<\/h3>\n<p>While he may look cold as ice, there&#8217;s an intelligence to everything the Englishman does that belies his nonchalance. When speaking about a recent cup final win the talented attacker seemed nonplussed by pointing out how he changed his positioning to pick up the ball in better areas and tear apart his opposition. It&#8217;s clear that Palmer is one step ahead at almost all times.<\/p>\n<p>Off the field, he doesn&#8217;t often strike anyone as the brightest speaker and you can compare yourself to him using a <a href=\"http:\/\/myiq.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MyIQ test review<\/a>. Despite that, anyone who&#8217;s seen him on the pitch will know there&#8217;s a great mind behind those eyes.<\/p>\n<h3>Enzo Fernandez<\/h3>\n<p>It takes a lot to be a World Cup winner and one of the most expensive midfielders of all time at the age Fernandez is. What stands out about him is his incredible passing range, his ability to know just where to place a ball is special and allows him to operate across the midfield in different roles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/07\/02\/al-hilal-topples-manchester-city-makes-club-world-cup-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Al Hilal Topples Manchester City, Makes Club World Cup History<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When he&#8217;s maximised, he becomes one of the better all-action midfielders in world football, capable of sensing opportunities to crash the box and create chances that often lead to goals.<\/p>\n<h3>Bruno Fernandes<\/h3>\n<p>The Manchester United captain has a very rare skillset. When he ticks, the team ticks. He is capable of pulling the strings and making sure the offence operates as it should while also popping up with goals and assists. His intelligence is proven by his ability to perform in different systems under different managers. Fernandes was just as important under Ruben Amorim as a 3-4-3 as he was for Erik ten Hag in a 4-3-3. This adaptability is second to none and comes from a player with an incredible IQ for the game.<\/p>\n<h3>Mikkel Damsgaard<\/h3>\n<p>Probably a little surprising but we head back to London to talk about the Bees midfielder. The Brentford man was one of Europe&#8217;s finest when it came to progressive passing. The ability to move the ball like a metronome is one thing, but the ability to consistently pick out passes ahead of you and make them come off is second-to-none.<\/p>\n<p>His passing ability often leads to assists or expected assists making him a statistically great midfielder. The ability to serve chances up on a plate for his teammates is not one to be ignored and comes with an innate knowledge of football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The midfield has always been the home of the maestro. It&#8217;s a position defined by an incredible passing ability, an ability to dictate play, and the mix of skills needed to perform both attack and defence. While it no doubt can be enhanced with physical attributes, it is a position that requires a genius mind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":639409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9938,471],"class_list":["post-656661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","tag-cole-palmer","tag-kevin-de-bruyne"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656661"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656663,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656661\/revisions\/656663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}