Gabi

Atletico Madrid

Central midfielder - Spain

2010/2011 Mid-season: Unranked
End of 2010/11 - Start of 2011/12:  233
2011/2012 Mid-season: 287
End of 2011/12 - Start of 2012/13: 271

End of 2011/12 - Start of 2012/13:

Gabi continued to be a very consistent central midfielder for Atletico, doing many of the things talked about in the mid-season 11/12 section below, on his way to winning the Europa League and getting closer, than what seemed likely earlier in the season, to Champions League qualification as well.

One thing that should definitely be noted is that few players foul more than Gabi in Spain.
In fact in the whole league he has been in the top 3 in fouls committed per game for the last two seasons, and that for two different teams mind you, before you blame it all on Diego Simone telling his players to get nasty...

What I'm guessing is that it's a combination of still being somewhat more of an all-rounder than very physical strong, very comfortable in duels (he tactically positions himself in a ton) and maybe not least his defensive smarts and discipline making him very willing to be the spoiler and commit the minor professional fouls, preferably in the opponent half, time and time again if that is what's required.

Other noteworthy stats, besides all the defensive duel activity, Gabi is top 20 (17th) in the league in passes per game and accurate long-balls as well where he is 14th showing his range especially when spreading the play.

He is number 10 in key-passes (which is a pass leading to a shot or header on goal) where his set-piece expertise of course plays heavily in. What is perhaps more impressive is that he is number 7 in accurate crosses per game, that's mostly reserved for wider players and shows that he is a good match with Falcao terrorizing the box. Mind you, set-pieces don't count compiling this particular stat, so Gabi's very good kicking-technique is also a weapon in open play.


2011/2012 Mid-season:

Instantly a leader for his new team Atletico Madrid this season, where he was originally a youth product, but played just 58 games for the first team between 2004 and 2007.

In the last 4 years for Zaragazo though, he has only been getting better and better maturing into a natural leader in midfield, and after the 2010/11 season, his best ever (resulting in his debut on my list) he had become too good to ignore for Atletico who brought him back where it all began.

Gabi is what you can call a solid, very consistent, football-intelligent central midfielder who is disciplined defensively and a good distributor of the ball. Including some good range of passing, without being what you would call a playmaker.

He is also very good on set pieces and will definitely create chances through that.

He is less of stand out on a very talented team compared to being the main man at Zaragoza, but his consistently good contributions from midfield, both offensively and defensively, shouldn't be ignored and he is just one of those central midfielders (even if a level below the best) who is able to become the glue holding everything together. Very valuable.

Arda Turan

Atletico Madrid  

Attacking midfielder/Winger - Turkey

2010/2011 Mid-season: 212
End of 2010/11 - Start of 2011/12: 249
2011/2012 Mid-season: 119
End of 2011/12 - Start of 2012/13: 131

End of 2011/12 - Start of 2012/13:

A solid first season from Arda Turan, in his long awaited (by me at least) move out of Turkey to one of the major leagues and currently while it's still early days in the follow-up season for Atletico, with not least Diego gone, and overall less quality attackers competing for minutes, he looks even better with a bigger role as the most creative and skilled attacking midfielder/winger on the team.

Arda Turan has excellent close control and is at his best in the difficult but dangerous smaller spaces having moved or simply on the move inside from whichever wing was his starting point. He is maybe not the fastest over many meters but is skilled enough to still be a handful one-on-one with his dribbling and off the ball he is a clever mover into scoring positions where he is a proven finisher. Something I expect him to show more in his second season.

Under demanding coach Diego Simeone I've also been impressed with Turan's teamwork. He makes the right decisions in what is usually a very transition-minded Atletico attack and without the ball he works very hard defensively getting into the right positions and even when it's called for, proving himself as underrated ball-winner, with his 3.4 per game 2011/12 good enough for 17th in the league.


2009/10:

A difficult player to rank since I don't see him very often.

He is probably the most talented player coming out of Turkey since Emre Belözoğlu.

Emre who after an up and down time abroad now is back in Turkey, and who a little surprisingly is still only 29.

Emre seems to have been around forever but right now I would say I have even less of an idea of how he is doing than Arda Turan, and therefore perhaps mistakenly didn't even consider him for the list.
At EURO 2008 Emre unfortunately got injured in the opening game and instead it was Arda who shined and also Arda who makes the list!

For years and years heralded as one of Europe's prime talents, Arda Turan is now 22, captain of Galatasaray, has 34 caps for his country and is already quite an experienced player.

He has very good technical ability. Dribbling, shooting and passing and creates goals for himself and for teammates. He is also comfortable on either wing, as well as playing up front working with a striker.
Something like his work-rate I have to admit I'm not really sure of so I can't say whether that's a strength or weakness of his, but if I was to point to something of the latter I would say his athletic ability doesn't seem to be all that great. Neither when it comes to strength or real speed, and that's what keeps him behind the next ranked player and others to yet to come. And the difference in level of competition that he faces.
Hopefully like Emre before him, we'll see Arda in one of the top leagues in not too many years.