The footballing world appreciate the goal scores, tacklers, dribblers, goal keepers and the likes. But have we come to understand that not everyone can fall into this category but are still important in the success of their respective teams.
The word regista in Italian means "director".In football,this is someone who is involved in every action from the ball into the midfield and a bit going forward.A regista sits in front of the back 4, get the ball and try locate MF/Forward players from deep in difficult situations.
One of the finest Regista of our generation is Andre Pirlo. He doesn't really get involved in goal scoring or assist but his influence in the team in relation to absorbing pressure from opponents, passing btw the lines and finding forward players from deep cannot be ignored.
Another example is Sergio Busquets nicknamed Octopus of Badia is vital in Barcelona's possession play and build up. A quote say "if u watch the game u would not see Busquets, Watch Busquets and u would see the game".
Busquets with his eye needle passes and his intelligent off the ball movement is vital in Barcelona's possession play. He doesn't have so much to offer in terms of tackles, goals and assist but a very integral piece in the dynamic play.
Others registas worth mentioning includes Jorginho, William Calvarho, Julian Weigl and Marco Verrati. All are similar in terms of their contributions to their respective teams.
Back to Jorginho, Ferdinand lashed at him that he has no contribution when it comes to goals, assists and tackles.
I am not surprised that an English manager hasn't won the league in the last 20 yrs. Jorginho's contribution in Chelsea's defensive third is vital in the sarriball system of total football. Let's take a look at Jorginho's stats for the season.
Ball Touches - 2312 1st in the EPL
Passes - 2077 1st in the EPL
Through balls - 16 2nd in the EPL behind David Luiz
Forward passes - 428 1st in the EPL Pass accuracy - 85.3 % 1st
Chances created from opened play - 0.87 per game 1st
Defensive third passes 318 1st
Forward passes in the middle third- 299 1st in the EPL
Defensive third passes 92 1st in the EPL.
People has called for Kante to be used as a Regista in place of Jorginho. When faced with high pressing teams like Tottenham, City, Liverpool and the likes, Kante would bulge under pressure.
The ability of Jorginho to read the game from deep makes him the best option for a team that plays from the back without doubt.
While at Napoli, Allan and hamsik could compliment him with their tackles, passes and work rate which made them a perfect trio.
Kante effectiveness in the Sarriball system is quite minimal with his strength majorly on tackles and interceptions and little on possession, Kovacic and Barkley has been super inconsistent and offers the team little. Sarriball's team is work in progress, he has accumulated more points than Pep at this stage in Pep's first season at City. If Parades (as a third man in the MF with kante and jorginho) and a striker (Maybe Higuain) joins in, the team performance as a whole would be greatly improved.