Here’s a page from football (soccer) history. Number 10 was a trequartista (creative midfielder) and an enganche (attacking playmaker). What happened?
There was a time when a football stadium would collectively hold its breath the moment the ball found one specific pair of feet. This player was neither the fastest on the pitch nor the one lunging into tackles or covering endless kilometers. Instead, they existed in the shadows—ghosting into those tight, suffocating pockets of space between the opposition’s midfield and defense.
With a single drop of the shoulder, a blind turn, or a perfectly weighted pass that defied physics, they could dismantle a defensive game plan that took weeks to prepare.
Icons like Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Juan Román Riquelme, and Roberto Baggio turned this role into something mythic. They didn’t need a high touch-count or relentless running to dominate a match; they just needed a single second of clarity. Yet in modern team sheets, that player has essentially vanished. The classic Number 10 didn’t just fade away from the overnight tactical evolution, slowly pushing them out of the modern game.
To understand why they disappeared, you have to appreciate the sheer luxury the old-school playmaker was afforded. They were the creative heartbeat of the team, tasked entirely with inventing moments that couldn’t be coached. Crucially, they possessed something modern football treats as a sin: freedom from defensive duties. They were allowed to save their energy while the rest of the team labored to win the ball back. The bargain was simple: you run for the genius, and the genius wins the match.
But the game grew up, and it grew fast. That shift didn’t come from a lack of talent, but a lack of space, and that is why Number 10 disappeared. That is the central reason the classic playmaker disappeared.
As managers like Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp ushered in the era of high-intensity pressing and compact defensive blocks, the Number 10’s playground was effectively swallowed up. Modern teams no longer stand off and admire a playmaker’s technique. Instead, if a player tries to receive the ball on the turn in that central pocket, they are instantly swarmed by two or three aggressive defensive midfielders. Football became faster and more aggressive, leaving less room for players who wanted time to think.
At the same time, the sport underwent an athletic revolution. Modern football demands total universality: attackers must press, defenders must create, and midfielders must cover every blade of grass. In an era defined by marginal gains, carrying a “luxury player” who doesn’t track back is tactical suicide. This shift completed the Number 10’s decline.
But creativity never disappeared. It just found a different place to live. The DNA of the classic playmaker scattered across the pitch to survive. Some dropped deeper into midfield to dictate the tempo from afar, away from the frontline press. Others moved out wide, becoming inverted wingers who start in the open spaces of the flanks before cutting inside to cause chaos. The role changed, but the need for invention remained.
Perhaps the ultimate cautionary tale of this shift is Mesut Özil. In the early 2010s, Özil was a walking work of art—the absolute pinnacle of the traditional space-finder. But as the decade hardened into a hyper-physical, press-heavy landscape, his elegant, low-work-rate style became a puzzle modern managers no longer wanted to solve. His career captures the thesis in miniature.
Today, the players wearing the iconic number 10 jersey look entirely different. Stars like Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala still possess that spark of magic, but they couple it with elite athleticism. They press, they tackle, and they fight for second balls. They are artists, yes, but they are built like machines.
The romantic era of the slow, elegant maestro waiting for his moment may be fading into nostalgia, but the spirit of the position remains. The playmaker didn’t die; he just had to roll up his sleeves, track back, and learn to run.
That is the modern Number 10.
