Top 20 midfielders in world football named and ranked including Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Rodri

Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala and Bruno Fernandes feature in a top 20 list ranking the best midfielders in world football.

It feels like we've watched more midfielders flourish than any other position in recent months, especially at the summit of England's top flight.

For Manchester City, serial-winner Rodri was an ever-present figure in the middle of Pep Guardiola's midfield.

He went 74 games without losing in all club competitions – a feat that sums up his importance to the Premier League winners.

And then at Arsenal, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice pulled the strings as they pushed for their first Premier League title in 20 years.

So who features in the top 20? ESPN pulled together a list based on their quality in the middle of the park.

20.) Hakan Calhanoglu

19.) Eduardo Camavinga

18.) Alexis Mac Allister

17.) Bruno Guimaraes

16.) Xavi Simons

15.) Joshua Kimmich

14.) Frenkie De Jong

13.) Nicolo Barella

12.) Jamal Musiala

11.) Kai Havertz

10.) Kevin De Bruyne

9.) Bruno Fernandes

8.) Pedri

7.) Aurelien Tchouameni

6.) Florian Wirtz

5.) Declan Rice

4.) Toni Kroos

3.) Martin Odegaard

2.) Jude Bellingham

1.) Rodri

Image credit: Getty

Many will agree with Rodri's position in the list. Earlier this year, Rio Ferdinand said the Spaniard is "in the conversation" for being the best defensive midfielder in Premier League history.

"His importance to this Man City team is probably the definitive factor," he said.

“The best ones I've played with were [Michael] Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, but I think sheer importance for the team… when he’s out the team, they get beat. It’s as simple as that.”

Joe Cole, who was on punditry duty for TNT Sports alongside Ferdinand, added: “You have to put an asterisk on that because people will go Keane and Vieira, Paul Ince even, but they were more box to box."

He added: "Football has evolved so you can’t even call them holding midfielders.”