What’s Your Midfield Personality Type?

It's Myers-Briggs, but for soccer.

My first week at a very expensive law school, our whole class was summoned the auditorium. Were we there to discuss the shifting landscape of general personal jurisdiction for corporations post-Daimler? To be warned there was still time to leave and do something meaningful with our lives? Nah, it was because somebody in the school’s administration wanted us to take a Myers-Briggs personality test.

This was kind of embarrassing, in part because we’d all gotten into this very expensive law school by scoring well on a standardized test that had nothing to do with the law but a lot to do with being able to recognize pseudoscientific reasoning, and Myers-Briggs has a reputation even in the fly-by-night field of personality assessment as being—to pluck a quote from the top of its Wikipedia page—“little more than a Chinese fortune cookie.” Still, I bet it’s one of what, like two personality tests you’ve heard of? You probably even know your own type, ENTP or ISTJ or whatever. Whether or not you think this stuff is just astrology flying business class, almost everyone at some point in their lives has thought about personality in terms of Myers-Briggs' four “preference pairs”: extraversion or introversion; sensing or intuition; thinking or feeling; judging or perceiving. I’m not even sure what some of those mean, but I know a catchy framework when I see one.

For years I’ve wanted to do something like Myers-Briggs for soccer, where so much analysis isn’t about figuring out who’s good but establishing what kind of players they are. There are lots of smart ways to measure players’ roles and characteristics—you could, for instance, use algorithms like the one from the Seven Styles of Soccer to sort players into types. What you’re about to read is not a smart way to do this kind of thing. It’s a dumb way, and I love it so much.

See, what I realized later was they weren’t giving law students a personality test because it was accurate or insightful. That didn’t even matter. The point was to give us a fun way to reflect on how humans think and feel differently from one another. Administrators correctly assumed that 1Ls were there because something had gone horribly wrong in our childhood socialization, and they hoped it might give us something to talk about over orientation beers that night. Approach this in that spirit.

How It Works

Instead of just stealing the popular parts of the Myers-Briggs framework to do serious soccer analytics, I decided to come at this a slightly different way: I wanted to use soccer stats to do Myers-Briggs, or at least as close to it as I could come. Did some central midfielder play more like an INFJ or an ENFP? What would that even mean? I wanted—no, needed—to find out.

The first step was grabbing a bunch of player stats from FBref and trying to decide which ones sounded like they corresponded to a personality trait. Extraversion (E) and Introversion (I) were easy: some random Myers-Briggs chart I pulled up on Google Images said you’re an extrovert if you “enjoy being the center of attention,” so guys with a lot of touches per ninety get an E in the first preference pair and low-involvement guys get an I.

The second pair was harder. My chart said Sensing (S) means you “focus on the reality of how things are,” which, uh, okay, sure. Intuition (N) is for people who “see how everything connects” and “like to describe things in a poetic, figurative way.” In other words, visionary creators, the kind of guys who rack up expected goals and assists. For the (S) crowd, I went with pressure success rate: if you’re successful at causing an opponent to cough up the ball, you’re not only doing something that has “practical applications,” per the chart, you’re also paying “attention to concrete facts” and not wasting energy closing down at the wrong time.

Feeling (F) means you “value harmony” and care how “your actions affect others.” Pass completion rate, right? No-brainer. But Thinking (T) was tough. I honestly had no idea what it would mean for a soccer player to “enjoy finding flaws in an argument,” but I talked myself into an analogy where the argument is, you know, a defensive block that a player DESTROYS with FACTS and LOGIC and PROGRESSIVE PASSES PER 90’.

Finally, Judging (J) is for people who “prefer to have matters settled,” while Perceiving (P) is for those who “like to improvise and make things up as you go.” Defensive actions and dribbling seemed like obvious matches. That was all four pairs sorted.

To determine which letters a player got, the idea was to normalize each stat and then see which side of each pair had the higher z-score—basically, which one he stood out more for compared to his peers. But first, to keep player stats from being drowned out by team effects (because surely not everyone who plays for Manchester City is extraverted and intuitive), I divided each player’s numbers by his squad’s averages.

I was ready to test some soccer personalities.

Running it on every player would have been boring because it would’ve wound up sorting by position, so I restricted our sample to the biggest, murkiest, most interesting position: midfielders, as defined by FBref positions (with some midfield-defender hybrids tossed in). What follows is how 340 mids across the Big 5 leagues came out, along with my best guess as to what it all means.

Oh, quick credit: The labels and organization I’ll use in this letter come from this other infographic I found on Google Images. There are a bunch of nicknames for the 16 Myers-Briggs types floating around the internet but I thought these names sounded cool and honestly seemed to describe a lot of players pretty well. (Brb, checking to see if my birth sign is rising.)

STRATEGIC

Mastermind (INTJ)

Low-touch, high offensive output, more progressive passing than pass completion, more defense than dribbling. According to my chart, ISTJs are “hardworking and trustworthy with sound practical judgment,” which sounds fair enough for guys like Marcel Sabitzer or Sandro Tonali. Not sure I’d call Pedri “analytical” and “systematic,” but he was always going to be a tricky one.

Players: Fabian Kunze (Arminia), Pedri (Barcelona), Përparim Hetemaj (Benevento), Andrés Guardado (Betis), Danny Latza (Mainz 05), Leandro Barreiro Martins (Mainz 05), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Pierre Lees-Melou (Nice), Marcel Sabitzer (RB Leipzig), Giulio Maggiore (Spezia), Nahuel Estévez (Spezia), Tomáš Souček (West Ham)

Field Marshal (ENTJ)

Like Masterminds except they get on the ball a lot. These guys are true showrunners, quarterback types like Toni Kroos and Joshua Kimmich. “Effective organizers of people and long-range planners,” says the personality chart. Could’ve added “long-range passers.”

Players: Thomas Mangani (Angers), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal),  Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Milan Badelj (Genoa), Yangel Herrera (Granada), Ángel Montoro (Granada), Arturo Vidal (Inter), Sergej Milinković-Savić (Lazio), Habib Maïga (Metz), Fabián Ruiz Peña (Napoli), Morgan Schneiderlin (Nice), Gastón Brugman (Parma), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Ivan Rakitić (Sevilla), Oliver Norwood (Sheffield Utd), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Dimitri Liénard (Strasbourg), Robert Andrich (Union Berlin), Daniel Wass (Valencia), Daniel Parejo (Villarreal)

Architect (INTP)

Yes, I took an online Myers-Briggs quiz while I was doing this letter. Yes, I got this type, just like my girlfriend told me I would. I’m in good company: on the pitch, INTPs are smart, creative attackers like Thomas Müller and Kevin de Bruyne. “Original thinkers who enjoy speculation and creative problem solving” might actually be the literal translation of Raumdeuter, I think, but my German’s rusty.

Players: Édgar Méndez (Alavés), Luis Rioja (Alavés), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Riccardo Improta (Benevento), Roberto Soriano (Bologna), Robbie Brady (Burnley), Nahitan Nández (Cagliari), Miloš Vulić (Crotone), Salvatore Molina (Crotone), Jeffrey Schlupp (Crystal Palace), Edu Expósito (Eibar), Fidel (Elche), Josan (Elche), Vladimír Darida (Hertha BSC), Aaron Ramsey (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Jack Harrison (Leeds United), Mateusz Klich (Leeds United), Raphael Dias Belloli (Leeds United), Florian Wirtz (Leverkusen), Kerem Demirbay (Leverkusen), Nadiem Amiri (Leverkusen), Jonathan Bamba (Lille), Luiz Araújo (Lille), Houssem Aouar (Lyon), Lucas Paquetá (Lyon), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Hernani (Parma), Jasmin Kurtić (Parma), Nathanael Mbuku (Reims), Jakub Jankto (Sampdoria), John Fleck (Sheffield Utd), Moussa Djenepo (Southampton), Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Adrien Thomasson (Strasbourg), Matt Phillips (West Brom), Yannick Gerhardt (Wolfsburg)

Inventor (ENTP)

Bruno Fernandes. Luka Modrić. Luis Alberto. David Silva. Ilkay Gündoğan. This kid I like at Bordeaux, Yacine Adli. These are the do-it-all creators, guys who can run a buildup or break down a low block. I haven’t had time to check Transfermarkt values by personality type yet, but I’d be willing to bet these “inventive, enthusiastic, strategic, enterprising, inquisitive, versatile” midfielders are one of the most prized groups.

Players: Angelo Fulgini (Angers), Dani Ceballos (Arsenal), Daniel Caligiuri (Augsburg), Yacine Adli (Bordeaux), Pascal Groß (Brighton), Ashley Westwood (Burnley), Alberto Perea (Cádiz), Răzvan Marin (Cagliari), Denis Suárez (Celta Vigo), Luis Alberto (Lazio), Rubén Rochina (Levante), Renato Sanches (Lille), Thomas Monconduit (Lorient), İlkay Gündoğan (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester Utd), Téji Savanier (Montpellier), Imran Louza (Nantes), Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle Utd), Yassine Benrahou (Nîmes), Rafinha (Paris S-G), Luka Modrić (Real Madrid), David Silva (Real Sociedad), Valon Berisha (Reims), Clément Grenier (Rennes), Jordan Veretout (Roma), Antonio Candreva (Sampdoria), Joan Jordán (Sevilla), Ben Osborn (Sheffield Utd), Rodrigo De Paul (Udinese), Carlos Soler (Valencia), Roque Mesa (Valladolid), Manu Trigueros (Villarreal)

LOGISTICAL

Provider (ESFJ)

“Seek to be helpful and please others” sounds fair enough for regista types like Jorginho and Bruno Guimarães. Providers pass more than the more common ISFJs, which I guess makes them “friendly” and “conscientious”? I don’t know, man, Steven Nzonzi used to play for Stoke.

Players: Marten de Roon (Atalanta), Guido Rodríguez (Betis), Paul Lasne (Brest), Renato Tapia (Celta Vigo), Jorginho (Chelsea), James McArthur (Crystal Palace), Didier Ibrahim Ndong (Dijon), Iván Marcone (Elche), Harrison Reed (Fulham), Maxime Gonalons (Granada), Miguel Veloso (Hellas Verona), Pedro Mosquera (Huesca), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City), Mickael Malsa (Levante), Nemanja Radoja (Levante), Xeka (Lille), Laurent Abergel (Lorient), Bruno Guimarães (Lyon), Boubacar Kamara (Marseille), Valentin Rongier (Marseille), Vincent Pajot (Metz), Franck Kessié (Milan), Diego Demme (Napoli), Moreto Cassamã (Reims), Steven Nzonzi (Rennes), Adrien Silva (Sampdoria), Omar Mascarell (Schalke 04), Walace (Udinese), Rubén Alcaraz (Valladolid), Vicente Iborra (Villarreal), Christian Groß (Werder Bremen), Declan Rice (West Ham)

Protector (ISFJ)

N’Golo Kanté. ‘Nuff said.

Players: … [deep breath] … Manu García (Alavés), Rodrigo Battaglia (Alavés), Tomás Pina Isla (Alavés), Lassana Coulibaly (Angers), Manuel Prietl (Arminia), Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Dani García (Athletic Club), Saúl Ñíguez (Atlético Madrid), Carlos Gruezo (Augsburg), Rani Khedira (Augsburg), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Jerdy Schouten (Bologna), Otávio (Bordeaux), Haris Belkebla (Brest), Yves Bissouma (Brighton), Josh Brownhill (Burnley), Jens Jønsson (Cádiz), N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Jaïro Riedewald (Crystal Palace), Wesley Lautoa (Dijon), Axel Witsel (Dortmund), Thomas Delaney (Dortmund), Papakouli Diop (Eibar), Djibril Sow (Eint Frankfurt), Stefan Ilsanker (Eint Frankfurt), Tom Davies (Everton), Nicolas Höfler (Freiburg), Mario Lemina (Fulham), Allan Nyom (Getafe), Yan Brice Eteki (Granada), Lucas Tousart (Hertha BSC), Diadie Samassékou (Hoffenheim), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Cheick Doucouré (Lens), Yannick Cahuzac (Lens), Julian Baumgartlinger (Leverkusen), Christoph Kramer (M'Gladbach), Scott McTominay (Manchester Utd), Mamadou Fofana (Metz), Tiemoué Bakayoko (Napoli), Isaac Hayden (Newcastle Utd), Adrián Cubas (Nîmes), Lucas Torró (Osasuna), Kevin Kampl (RB Leipzig), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Martín Zubimendi (Real Sociedad), Marshall Munetsi (Reims), Eduardo Camavinga (Rennes), Lucas Douath (Saint-Étienne), Albin Ekdal (Sampdoria), Morten Thorsby (Sampdoria), Fernando (Sevilla), Ibrahima Sissoko (Strasbourg), Jean-Eudes Aholou (Strasbourg), Tomás Rincón (Torino), Fede San Emeterio (Valladolid), Jake Livermore (West Brom)

Supervisor (ESTJ)

Might as well rename this type The One With All My Favorite DMs. Yes, Sergio Busquets is “efficient.” Yup, Thiago is “analytical.” You bet your ass Marco Verratti is “dependable” (along with pretty much the entire PSG midfield, apparently). Koke and Rodri are nothing if not “systematic.” ESTJs “like to run the show and get things done in an orderly fashion,” says our personality chart. Amen.

Players: Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Remo Freuler (Atalanta), Koke (Atlético Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Luka Milivojević (Crystal Palace), Erick Pulgar (Fiorentina), Marcelo Brozović (Inter), Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus), Lucas Leiva (Lazio), Benjamin André (Lille), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Thiago Alcántara (Liverpool), Fabien Lemoine (Lorient), Thiago Mendes (Lyon), Rodri (Manchester City), Fred (Manchester Utd), Nemanja Matić (Manchester Utd), Pape Gueye (Marseille), Jordan Ferri (Montpellier), Lucas Deaux (Nîmes), Ander Herrera (Paris S-G), Idrissa Gana Gueye (Paris S-G), Leandro Paredes (Paris S-G), Marco Verratti (Paris S-G), Ander Guevara (Real Sociedad), Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad), Benjamin Stambouli (Schalke 04), Oriol Romeu (Southampton), Matteo Ricci (Spezia), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Pierre Højbjerg (Tottenham), Uroš Račić (Valencia), Maximilian Arnold (Wolfsburg), João Moutinho (Wolves), Rúben Neves (Wolves)

Inspector (ISTJ)

Like the Protectors but with more progressive passing (or just worse completion rates). Not a super star-studded list, though you can imagine Caqueret coming out of his shell and becoming an extraverted Supervisor.

Players: Unai Vencedor Paris (Athletic Club), Baptiste Santamaria (Freiburg), Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim), Charles Aránguiz (Leverkusen), Maxence Caqueret (Lyon), Aurélien Tchouaméni (Monaco), Youssouf Fofana (Monaco), Khéphren Thuram-Ulie (Nice), Oier Sanjurjo (Osasuna), Xaver Schlager (Wolfsburg)

TACTICAL

Performer (ESFP)

Not gonna lie, the personality labels start to get a little shaky in these last two quadrants, which tend to be for guys with slightly unusual skillsets. Is Frenkie de Jong a Performer? I just wrote a whole newsletter about why he’s not performing. On the other hand, it’s cool to see him grouped with Arthur, who got run out of Barcelona for the sin of offering pretty much the same skills as the slightly newer-model golden boy.

Players: Unai López (Athletic Club), Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona), Marko Rog (Cagliari), Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina), Marc Cucurella (Getafe), Luis Milla (Granada), Ivan Ilić (Hellas Verona), Arthur Melo (Juventus), Nampalys Mendy (Leicester City), Trevoh Chalobah (Lorient), Mehdi Abeid (Nantes), Gonzalo Villar (Roma), Romaine Sawyers (West Brom)

Composer (ISFP)

There are few things I love more than the image of Moussa Sissoko sitting down to pen a symphony. I guess “helpful, flexible, realistic” is pretty spot on for Gini Wijnaldum though.

Players: Tobias Strobl (Augsburg), Artur Ioniță (Benevento), Jairo Izquierdo (Cádiz), Niccolò Zanellato (Crotone), Raúl Guti (Elche), Allan (Everton), Lukas Lerager (Genoa), Adrien Tameze (Hellas Verona), Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool), Victorien Angban (Metz), Pedro Chirivella (Nantes), Jeff Hendrick (Newcastle Utd), Yvan Neyou (Saint-Étienne), Zaydou Youssouf (Saint-Étienne), Suat Serdar (Schalke 04), Sander Berge (Sheffield Utd), Orel Mangala (Stuttgart), Karol Linetty (Torino), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Tolgay Arslan (Udinese), Grischa Prömel (Union Berlin), Jean-Manuel Mbom (Werder Bremen)

Promoter (ESTP)

“Pragmatic problem solvers” here, though they solve them in different ways. Florian Neuhaus made the hands-down best pass of the season and Tanguy Ndombélé is key to Tottenham’s heists as the Inside Man.

Players: Pasquale Schiattarella (Benevento), William Carvalho (Betis), Mateo Kovačić (Chelsea), André Gomes (Everton), Mattéo Guendouzi (Hertha BSC), Nicolò Barella (Inter), Youri Tielemans (Leicester City), Boubakary Soumaré (Lille), Florian Neuhaus (M'Gladbach), Iñigo Pérez (Osasuna), Tanguy Ndombele (Tottenham)

Crafter (ISTP)

I’d be lying if I claimed to have takes on any of these players, so let’s just take the chart at its word that they’re, uh, “skilled at understanding how mechanical things work.”

Players: Marcel Hartel (Arminia), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Radja Nainggolan (Cagliari), Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace), Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Piotr Zieliński (Napoli), Maximilian Eggestein (Werder Bremen)

DIPLOMATIC

Counselor (INFJ)

I was super curious where Weston McKennie would come out on here, since his role at Juventus has evolved from d-mid glue guy to box-crashing specialist. Turns out he’s been chasing “harmony and cooperation” this whole time.

Players: Ibrahim Amadou (Angers), Mattias Svanberg (Bologna), Jude Bellingham (Dortmund), Sergio Álvarez (Eibar), Abdoulaye Doucouré (Everton), Nemanja Maksimović (Getafe), Jaime Seoane (Huesca), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Lamine Fomba (Nîmes), Jon Moncayola (Osasuna), Xavier Chavalerin (Reims), Mahdi Camara (Saint-Étienne), Pedro Obiang (Sassuolo), Leander Dendoncker (Wolves)

Teacher (ENFJ)

The least common type. If these guys were more adventurous in their passing they’d be Field Marshals, and if they were better ball winners or less involved around the box they’d be Providers. As it stands, they’re “skilled communicators”—high touch, high completion—with an oddball skillset.

Players: Mikel Vesga (Athletic Club), Nicolás Domínguez (Bologna), Sebastian Rode (Eint Frankfurt), Florian Grillitsch (Hoffenheim), Ellyes Skhiri (Köln), Danilo Pereira (Paris S-G)

Healer (INFP)

I made some friends who didn’t know how the project worked guess where on the personality wheel different midfielders’ playstyles would land, and everybody got a kick out of Ross Barkley being a Healer. The attacking involvement and dribbles make these guys come off a little touchy feely, but most of them just want to keep a low profile and circulate safely.

Players: Ross Barkley (Aston Villa), Marcos Llorente (Atlético Madrid), Toma Bašić (Bordeaux), Dwight McNeil (Burnley), Pape Cheikh Diop (Dijon), Gylfi Sigurðsson (Everton), Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina), Mauro Arambarri (Getafe), Mikel Rico (Huesca), Hélder Costa (Leeds United), Mickaël Cuisance (Marseille), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Saša Lukić (Torino), Soualiho Meïté (Torino), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Conor Gallagher (West Brom)

Champion (ENFP)

It’s true that Curtis Jones is technically a champion. It’s also true that almost everyone else on this list plays for terrible teams. Has science finally found its limit?

Players: Álex Fernández (Cádiz), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Fulham), Miha Zajc (Genoa), Seko Fofana (Lens), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Florent Mollet (Montpellier), Abdoulaye Touré (Nantes), Maxime Lopez (Sassuolo), John Lundstram (Sheffield Utd), Kike Pérez (Valladolid), Kevin Möhwald (Werder Bremen) ❧

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Image: Indonesian Masks, Honolulu Museum of Art