I think it's widely acknowledged that central MF have difficulty in achieving ratings on a par with most other positions. The end of the season is approaching for me and I currently have four CM, which are summarised as follows:

21/6*, average 6.3 from 26 matches, 5 goals, 2 assists
22/5*, average 6.4 from 29 matches, 5 goals, 1 assist
25/4*, average 6.7 from 22 matches, 2 goals, 1 assist
29/3* (Free kicks SQ), average 6.7 from 28 matches, 6 goals, 2 assists

Weirdly they seem to rate better the lower skilled they are, I don't let the 3* take FK often btw. The 21 year old is quite highly valued, but has always struggled to get any kind of decent ratings consistently and his contract is up at the end of the season. The 22 year old I've always felt has been slightly better, just struggles for consistency. The two older MF are relatively consistent I would say.

My DMCs are as follows:

25/5*, average 6.2 from 14 matches (also DMR)
20/4*, average 7.0 from 35 matches (also DC)

I usually play with a three man MF with one holding player. My team is fairly good for my level (despite me not investing really in the close season), should make top four in my league, got to SF of CL. What I was wondering is how does this compare to the 'average' for MF, is very hard to benchmark them against the rest of my team?