Analyzing the FIFA 23 Team of the Year: Part 2 – The Midfielders

The nominees for the FIFA 23 Team of the Year (TOTY) have been released and there’s no guarantee that everyone will be happy about the selection of the nominees. I’ll be the judge of that.

This is a new series that I will be doing where I analyze the nominees for the Attackers, Midfielders, and Defenders + GK. I will be writing down who I think should be in the final team and those who should have and should not have been included in the nominees list. I will be following the standard 4-3-3 formation so, for the part where I say who makes the cut, I will be listing the goalkeeper and four defenders, three midfielders, and three attackers. To make it fair, I won’t be criticizing players I haven’t seen much of.

Let’s not wait any longer, let’s go!

---

The Midfielders

The heart of the team who play at the heart of the pitch, these players support both the attack and defense by acting as the bridge between those two groups. But EA did not allow everybody to cross the bridge into the nominees list — some were unceremoniously omitted from the shortlist. Let’s see who’s made the cut:

Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan and Italy)

Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund and England)

Steven Berghuis (Ajax and the Netherlands)

Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan and Croatia)

Bernardo Silva (Manchester City and Portugal)

Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)

Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen and France)

Nabil Fekir (Real Betis and France)

Seko Fofana (RC Lens and Ivory Coast)

Pedri Gonzalez (FC Barcelona and Spain)

Vincenzo Grifo (SC Freiburg and Italy)

Rodri (Manchester City and Spain)

Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt and Japan)

Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich and Germany)

Photo by Mohammad Karamali/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Filip Kostic (Juventus and Serbia)

Toni Kroos (Real Madrid and Germany)

Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich and Senegal)

Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad and Spain)

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio and Serbia)

Luka Modric (Real Madrid and Croatia)

Martin Odegaard (Arsenal FC and Norway)

Dani Parejo (Villarreal and Spain)

Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma and Italy)

Declan Rice (West Ham United and England)

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal and England)

Aurelien Tchouameni (Real Madrid and France)

Sandro Tonali (AC Milan and Italy)

Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images

Federico Valverde (Real Madrid and Uruguay)

Casemiro (Manchester United and Brazil)

Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina and Morocco)

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United and Portugal)

Ritsu Doan (SC Freiburg and Japan)

Enzo Fernandez (SL Benfica and Argentina)

Ivan Perisic (Tottenham Hotspur and Croatia)

Adrien Rabiot (Juventus and France)

---

Get in the team! – Luka Modric, Joshua Kimmich, and Kevin de Bruyne

Three of the best midfielders that football has to offer. Modric at 37 is still a top player and maintaining consistency at Real Madrid and a deep run in the World Cup should warrant a spot in the final team. Kimmich is an absolute unit for Bayern and deputizing at RB for Germany and still balling out is just insane.

---

Did your invite end up like Choupo’s? – Jamal Musiala

Photo by Mohammad Karamali/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Probably the biggest exclusion on the list, how could anyone leave out Musiala? This isn’t even bias because he 1000% deserves to be nominated. At only 19, his goal and assist contributions total has him behind only four players: Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Erling Haaland; that should some up how good Musiala is. Shameful from EA for leaving Musiala out; well…at least Gavi isn’t there.

---

What’re you doing here? – Sadio Mane

Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

I decided to put Mane here because he should’ve been with the attackers and not the midfielders (FIFA 23 has him as a LM).

---

What do you think? Do you agree with the list of nominees? What about my selections, thoughts, and criticisms? Anyone that me and EA missed? Head to the comments and fire away!

If you want to vote for the Team of the Year, click here.

If you missed Part 1, check it out here.

Watch out for part 3 coming soon!