In most countries, the ‘playmaker’ has always been the No.10, the attacking midfielder. In Argentina, for example, they call this player the enganche, and he sits in the hole just behind the striker. However, in Italy, as Jonathan Wilson explained in Inverting the Pyramid, they split playmakers into trequartistas  — No.10s who operate high up — and registas — deep-lying playmakers like Andrea Pirlo or Jorginho who sit in front of the defence.

Registas became particularly popular in the early 2000s when the domination of possession arose as the most desirable tactic for elite sides. Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning side centred around Pirlo as the regista, with Francesco Totti as a trequartista. 

The one catch, though, is that a team could only play a regista if their whole formation was built around it. Wingers and registas were rarely used simultaneously, and multiple players nearby were tasked with protecting the regista from disturbance. To help visualise, that’s the Gennaro Gattuso role. Guard, protect, liberate. 

The fall-down of the tactic began once man-marking and low-blocks were adopted. Teams would either mark the regista out of the game or deny the space, preventing this player from accessing teammates or space between the lines with cute passes. 

Most tactics come back around when football is better equipped to accommodate them, and solve the problems that ultimately led to their downfall. But football’s brief flirtation with the concept of registas may well be precisely that: brief. 

There’s one aspect of modern football which we can quite confidently assert will never change again now. Football will never again assign two, three, or four teammates on a field to protect another player. Every player must be good enough to protect themselves in moments of risk and vulnerability. If someone doesn’t offer something unique, they won’t last long. 

Modern-day midfields are packed with playmakers. The old-fashioned shuttler — the box-to-box No.8 — is a playmaker. The mezzala — Kevin de Bruyne or Nicolò Barella — is certainly still a playmaker. Even the ball-winning Declan Rice has to be a playmaker. 

Nowadays, more so than ever before, there’s an appreciation that you must man-mark the pivot player, the No.6. Don’t let a team build up through this player. Make no mistake, deep-lying playmakers will live on, and we see them in so many modern teams. But the regista is always free of disruption during their possession play, and it’s all down to the guard; the Gattuso. If you made the onrushing players of the opposing side invisible, would the deep-lying playmaker still be able to play their game? If yes, you’ve got a system that perfectly accommodates a regista. But if yes, you’re labelled ‘one dimensional’.

Football wants more. You won’t find simple Gattusos anymore. Registas have lost their guards and, as a result, will make no more public appearances. It’s just too risky.