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The money paid to agents for facilitating transfers for players between clubs or contract renewals at their current club. Agent fees can be enormous - sometimes tens of millions for a single deal. Agents get paid by clubs, players, or both. The fees have grown so large that clubs and FIFA have tried to regulate them. Super-agents like Jorge Mendes and the late Mino Raiola built empires on these commissions.

An unbroken chain of passes before the ball is lost. Sequences can be long (tiki-taka style) or short (direct football). Teams are judged on how many long sequences they produce and what they do with them. A 15-pass sequence that ends with a sideways ball is different from one that ends with a shot. The quality of the sequence's endpoint matters as much as the length.

The creative midfielder who runs the game, creates chances, and controls tempo. Classic number 10s like Maradona and Zidane played between midfield and attack. Deep-lying playmakers like Pirlo and Xavi do similar things from further back. Pure playmakers are rarer now because teams spread creative duties around instead of relying on one player. But the role still gets romanticized as football at its most artistic.

Italian term for a midfielder who drifts into the half-space between central and wide areas. Not quite a central midfielder, not quite a winger. They make runs into channels, receive between the lines, and provide width when wingers cut inside. Gündoğan under Guardiola played this way - nominally central but constantly drifting wide and arriving late in the box.

A quick pass and return - you pass to a teammate, run past your marker, and receive the ball back. Also called a wall pass or give-and-go. Simple but effective for breaking through tight defenses. Requires two players on the same wavelength and a pass with enough pace that the defender can't recover. Basic attacking play that never goes out of fashion.