Columbus Crew: Darlington Nagbe and the importance of a press-resistant midfielder

The Columbus Crew are reportedly set to sign Darlington Nagbe from Atlanta United. Nagbe, who will reunite with Caleb Porter, proves the importance of having a press-resistant midfielder.

For the past five years, Real Madrid have largely been the best team in the world. They won three successive Champions Leagues. They won four in five years, the second-most dominant period in the competition’s history.

Last season, Liverpool won the Champions League. They were beaten by Madrid in the final the year before. Alongside Liverpool, Manchester City have also dominated, Pep Guardiola again building an elite team that sweeps through its domestic league without much trouble at all.

What do all these teams have in common? Well, among other things, a central midfield that can resist a high press. Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are two of the best central midfielders of their generation. Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum are perfectly built to receive possession under pressure, protect it, and then move play into more advanced areas of the pitch. The last two seasons, Fernandinho was the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League, superb at shuttling the ball through phases in possession.

All this is to say, a press-resistant midfield is vital to building a successful team. This is especially true in the modern game, that has evolved dramatically over the past decade as coaches have devised a high-pressure, turnover-focused gameplan to combat the prior dominance of tika-taka.

The final four teams in MLS all help illustrate. Mark-Anthony Kaye and Eduard Atuesta are superb under pressure for LAFC, Cristian Roldan is a great enabler in possession for Seattle, while Toronto FC’s Michael Bradley has been one of the best anchoring midfielders with wonderful distribution in MLS for many years now. And amid all of this, Atlanta United have the best press-resistant central midfielder in the league, Darlington Nagbe.

That was until this week. According to Paul Tenorio and Sam Stejskal of The Athletic, Atlanta have agreed to trade midfielder Nagbe to the Columbus Crew, the former Portland Timbers star reuniting with head coach Caleb Porter from his time in the Pacific Northwest. The compensation has not been revealed, but it is reported to be in the realm of one of the most expensive deals in MLS history, perhaps topping $1 million in total allocation money.

More from MLS Multiplex

• Javier Milei Elected in Argentina: Potential Impacts on MLS and Signings of Argentine Players
• Orlando City and New York City FC in the Battle for Matías Arezo; Grêmio Enters Negotiations! Who Will Come Out on Top?
• USA, Honduras, Panama, and Canada Close in on a Spot in the 2024 Copa America
• De Gea Turns Down Al-Nassr’s Lucrative Offer: Speculation Points to Possible Reunion with Messi at Inter Miami
• Messi’s Magnetic Impact in the United States

From the Columbus Crew’s perspective, they will be acquiring one of these crucial press-resistant central midfielders who understands and has the ability to execute Porter’s possession-based system. Only one player in MLS had a higher pass completion rate than Nagbe, Osvaldo Alonso of Minnesota United. Nagbe averages 52.2 passes per game, the most of any Atlanta United midfielder. He ranks 12th in the squad for unsuccessful touches per game and 10th for the number of dispossessions. He also completed 1.8 dribbles per game, bettered by only Justin Meram and Gonzalo Martinez.

And Porter has made us of this type of player in his system before. He is clearly not an admirer of Artur in the heart of the Columbus Crew midfield, while Wil Trapp has some qualities as a deep-lying distributor but lacks the size and speed of Nagbe to hold off would-be tacklers and spin into space, releasing the pressure as a result.

Lacking a player of Nagbe’s qualities can unhinge an entire team. With almost every manager now looking to use a high press at moments in matches, if you do not have a midfielder to shuttle play forwards, dribble past the defender and release passes to more advanced teammates, it is very difficult to ever build any attacks. The Crew, after all, scored the third-fewest goals in MLS last year, and it was not for a want of capable attackers.

Nagbe is the press-resistant midfielder that every great team requires. Atlanta United have enjoyed the benefits of his presence for the last two years. Now, it is the turn of Porter and the Columbus Crew. And no matter how much they paid to get him, such an impact will surely be worth it.