The defensive midfielder became trendy in football when Claude Makelele became a household name in the early 2000s. Seldom ever before had a position been named after a player. Well, in K League that's the Choi Young-jun, Ki Sung-yueng or Shin Jin-ho role - some of the standout performers in the defensive midfielder top threes. 

Interceptions

Ideally, your defensive midfielders are able to read the game and know when to cut out the pass. After all, any pass that goes beyond them will likely be heading toward the back line. Jeju United's Choi Young-jun was the defensive midfielder who made the most interceptions last season with 210, followed by Suwon FC's Kim Geon-ung with 187 and Park Yong-woo of Ulsan Hyundai with 174.

1. Choi Young-jun, Jeju United - 210 (3rd overall)
2. Kim Geon-ung, Suwon FC - 187 (8th overall)
3. Park Yong-woo, Ulsan Hyundai - 174 (13th overall)

Successful tackles

They're also going to need to put a foot in and break play up and one of the best ways of doing that is to tackle. Choi Young-jun again tops this category and not just as a DM but overall with 46, followed by Incheon United's Lee Myeong-ju with 43, and Gangwon FC's Seo Min-woo with 35.

1. Choi Young-jun, Jeju United - 46 (1st overall)
2. Lee Myeong-ju, Incheon United - 43 (2nd overall)
3. Seo Min-woo, Gangwon FC - 35 (5th overall)

[READ: 2022 K League 1 Review: Goalkeeper Top Threes]

Assists

Assists might be a but of a bonus. If your defensive midfielder can get among the assists then great, if not then there are plenty of other ways they can contribute. But Pohang Steelers' Shin Jin-ho managed to rack up 11 assists last season, which was the second-most in the division. Lee Myeong-ju was the next best DM with five from 34 games and Jeonbuk's Paik Seung-ho five from 30 matches.

1. Shin Jin-ho, Pohang Steelers - 11 (2nd overall)
2. Lee Myeong-ju, Incheon United - 5 (13th overall)
3. Paik Seung-ho, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - 5 (19th overall)

Second assists

What's a second assist? Even some players don't know what this means. Well, a second assist is simply, according to Wyscout, the pass before the assist - the assist to the assist, if you will. Shin Jin-ho sits top for second assists with six, Ki Sung-yueng is second as a defensive midfielder with four, and Lee Myeong-ju is third with three.

1. Shin Jin-ho, Pohang Steelers - 6 (1st overall)
2. Ki Sung-yueng, FC Seoul - 4 (4th overall)
3. Lee Myeong-ju, Incheon United - 3 (6th overall)

Third assists

A third assist, then, is two passes before the assist. You could think of this as the player that started the move or was played an important pass in the build-up to a goal. Shin Jin-ho scores highly again with four for the most overall, Ki is second as a defensive midfielder and fifth overall with three, and Lee Seung-mo - who has been playing in his more natural position more - comes in third (6th overall) with two.

1. Shin Jin-ho, Pohang Steelers - 4 (1st overall)
2. Ki Sung-yueng, FC Seoul - 3 (5th overall)
3. Lee Seung-mo, Pohang Steelers - 2 (6th overall)

[READ: 2022 K League 1 Review: Full Back Top Threes]

Passes

For the sheer number of passes made, something that the sitting midfielder is expected to make a lot of, Ki Sung-yueng managed to rack up 2,681 for the most. Behind him are two of the usual suspects in Shin Jin-ho with 2,495 passes and Choi Young-jun with 2,193.

1. Ki Sung-yueng, FC Seoul - 2681 (1st overall)
2. Shin Jin-ho, Pohang Steelers - 2495 (3rd overall)
3. Choi Young-jun, Jeju United - 2193 (4th overall)

Passing accuracy

Ideally, the passes are ones that reach a player wearing the same colour shirt. Ki Sung-yueng had the best accuracy at 91.64%, former FC Seoul midfielder Koh Myong-jin was second with 92.31% for Ulsan, and his teammate Won Du-jae is third with 90.83%. It must be worth noting that other players showed better accuracy but had played far fewer games. Ricardo Silva, for instance, who showed 95% passing accuracy, played just one match for FC Seoul.

1. Ki Sung-yueng, FC Seoul - 91.64% 
2. Koh Myong-jin, Ulsan Hyundai - 92.31%
3. Won Du-jae, Ulsan Hyundai - 90.83%

Through passes

It's not all sideways and backward passes between the centre backs, though. The defensive midfielder will try to pull the strings from deep as a deep-lying playmaker. Ki Sung-yueng made the most both as a defensive midfielder and overall with 55, Shin Jin-ho was second with 54, and Choi Young-jun third with 35.

1. Ki Sung-yueng, FC Seoul - 55 (1st overall)
2. Shin Jin-ho, Pohang Steelers - 54 (2nd overall)
3. Choi Young-jun, Jeju United - 35 (6th overall)

Passes to final third

What about those passes that could thread the eye of a needle? Those clever, defense-splitting passes that could just lead to a goal-scoring opportunity? Well, Shin Jin-ho made the most with 465, Ki was next with 436 and Ulsan's Park Yong-woo third with 318.

1. Shin Jin-ho, Pohang Steelers - 465 (1st overall)
2. Ki Sung-yueng, FC Seoul - 436 (3rd overall)
3. Park Yong-woo, Ulsan Hyundai - 318 (5th overall)

[READ: 2022 K League 1 Review: Centre Back Top Threes]