Xaver Schlager

Schlager presses the way few central midfielders in the Premier League consistently manage, closing down the first pass out of defence rather than allowing an opponent time to settle. That intensity sets a tone the rest of the team can follow. A midfielder pressing that aggressively invites his teammates higher up the pitch behind him instead of sitting off and inviting pressure back onto Forest.

A serious knee injury interrupted his career at exactly the point his pressing style had marked him out as one of European football's more coveted midfielders. Setbacks like that tend to raise fair questions about durability. Whether he can sustain the same relentless work rate over many matches, rather than in shorter bursts, is the argument that will follow him for a while yet. Coaches at his previous clubs consistently pointed to that same intensity as the reason bigger sides came calling.