20 Most Potent Attacking Midfielders in World Football

Potent attacking midfielders can come in various formats.

They may be kings of the assists or just score goals for fun. Perhaps they just bamboozle defenders with pace and trickery before laying the ball off for others to gain the headlines.

Whatever their methods, here are the 20 Most Potent Attacking Midfielders in World Football today.

Steven Gerrard was once described by Zinedine Zidane as one of the best footballers in the world and I'd be inclined to agree.

Gerrard is consistently one of the star performers in the Premier League and has dragged Liverpool up by the scruff of the neck for over a decade.

Captain.

Ronaldinho wowed supporters for years and can still mesmerize the best of defenders on his day.

The samba loving Brazilian international is currently playing his football for Flamengo where he has scored 14 goals in 31 games.

Elastico.

Rafael Van Der Vaart can be a goalscoring machine when in form.

The Netherlands and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder will be hoping his goalscoring will pick up again as his club side looks to achieve a Champions League place for next season.

Scorer.

If Matthias Sammer refers to you as one of the best talents Germany has ever had, you're probably a pretty good player.

Mario Gotze is a 19-year-old superstar in the making.

Exciting.

13 goals and seven assists has put Shinji Kagawa's name on quite a few lips this season.

The Japan and Borussia Dortmund star has been heavily linked with a summer move to Manchester United where Alex Ferguson is known to be looking to strengthen his midfield.

Despite being overlooked for part of the season by former manager Andres Villas Boas, Frank Lampard has still scored 11 goals to encompass his five assists.

Lampard is the third highest goalscorer in Chelsea's history and was the first midfielder to score 150 goals in the Premier League.

Consistent.

Gareth Bale is blessed with exceptional speed and is being touted as one of the star players that Great Britain will be naming in their squad for the London 2012 Olympics.

Bale has apparently declared that he wouldn't turn down a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid if either of the Spanish giants made an offer.

Rapid.

Whilst Franck Ribéry hasn't enjoyed his finest season at Bayern Munich in 2011/12, the tricky Frenchman has still notched up the second highest assist ratio in the league with 11 and added 12 goals to boot.

Explosive.

Whilst Andrea Pirlo features as more of a deep-lying playmaker for Juventus, he is still extremely potent from that position.

The Italian World Cup winner is currently the Serie A assist leader with 12 to date for the season.

Deep.

Lucas Moura's potency has seen Sao Paulo slap a £40 million price tag on the 19-year-old Brazilian international.

Moura managed nine goals with four assists from midfield in Sao Paulo's 2011 league campaign.

Expensive.

Despite featuring from the bench a lot this season, Kaka is still one of the most devastating attacking midfielders in the modern game.

With seven assists this season, there's not many teams in the world that Kaka wouldn't walk onto.

Solid.

Arjen Robben has managed to score 11 goals this season which has helped propel his side into the Champions League final where he will face former side Chelsea.

Robben's future is apparently now up in the air at Bayern Munich prompting speculation he could look to move on.

Balding.

Antonio Valencia is probably the most underrated player in the Premier League.

The Ecuadorian midfielder has managed 14 assists already this season—the third highest in the Premier League—suggesting he is more effective than people realise.

Underrated.

David Silva was probably the standout performer in the first half of the Premier League season and his talent and class are what drives Manchester City.

Silva has amassed 16 assists and has scored six goals in the Premier League this season.

Title chance.

Another great attacking midfielder, another great player at Real Madrid.

Germany's Mesut Özil is often referred to as being inconsistent, but the enigma leads this season's La Liga assist table with 18 in 33 matches to date.

Leading the way.

Neymar is another player who falls into the forward vs attacking midfielder grey area that can engulf players who are effective in multiple positions.

Neymar is reportedly the subject of an attempted bid by Barcelona.

Future.

Eden Hazard is hot property in the transfer gossip pages right now largely due to his 17 goals and 14 assists in Ligue 1 this season.

With fees around £35 million being mentioned, he could be one of the biggest buys of the summer.

Wanted.

Andreas Iniesta often plays in the shadow of Lionel Messi, meaning he doesn't always get the credit he deserves.

The Barcelona and Spain midfielder finished second in the Ballon d'Or in 2010 and fourth in 2011.

Ability.

Lionel Messi is interchangeable as an attacking midfielder or forward and is one of the finest players to ever pull on a football shirt.

Messi can be absolutely devastating when he's on his game. Just ask Bayer Leverkusen who found out the hard way in this season's Champions League.

Unique.

Forward? Winger? Attacking midfielder? It's all debatable as to which of these positions Cristiano Ronaldo technically plays.

Having said that, the question isn't whether he plays there usually, it's whether he is one of the most potent when he does.

That is something that is surely indisputable.

Fancy.

All statistics were courtesy of soccenet.espn.go.com and premierleague.com.

On Twitter? Follow me @petercwebster where I post all my B/R content such as Olympic Soccer Draw: 50 Players We Can't Wait To See In London.