THREAD: Is Sander Berge the midfield messiah?

He's been called a successor to Busquets or Kanté. Yet he doesn't play like either of them. Here are the DMs with the most similar styles from Europe's top five leagues – a few hard men who can take the ball forward!

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Here are #SanderBerge's numbers at a Premier League standard. He's a smarterscout young prospect () who always has excellent ball retention. His attacking output has been up lately, too. He's great in the air in open play and tackling, but his overall defending is so-so.

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And here's a comparison of his playing style in Belgium and the UEL last season. In the UEL he defended a bit more avidly but still with mediocre quality at a Premier League standard. The constants: he takes the ball forward a ton, links up, and can get into the box.

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Finally, here are smartermaps for Berge, Kanté, and Busquets (the latter two in 2016-17, closer to their peaks as DMs). Kanté covers more ground, Busquets stays more central, and both do more short passing and less dribbling than Berge. Will Berge's style change so much?

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P.S. For the #FootballIndex crowd, Berge's price has gone up this season, and there will undoubtedly be more media buzz about him when he gets his move to a bigger league. But there's a big difference between the next Busquets or Kanté and the next Kondogbia. Any thoughts?