There’s always a room for Trequartistas at Milanello

‘ Trequartista’ or the ‘hole’ player is the position employed by the playmaker behind the striker(s). It literally  means ‘three quarters’ in Italian and invariably sports the Number 10 jersey. Unfortunately modern football formations such as 4-4-2, 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 have brought the forth the death of the Trequartistas. Common tacticians would prefer wide players who cut inside rather than a-classic number-10-player that is stationed in the midfield area.

Playing in a wide role generally requires a fair degree of pace, and in that respect the likes of Messi, Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo have no problems, and have their place in the modern game.In contrast the players that traditionally play as enigmatic artists who produce individual moments of genius, but have no enough the pace and trickery to play out wide will be rarely found. The likes of  Rui Costa, Zinedine Zidane, Francesco Totti and Juan Román Riquelme will be deemed as “the last generation of the old-style playmakers”.