Right, this is the third video in our series going through the best current players in each position, having previously looked at the 7 best goalkeepers and left-backs, as we build up to our own ‘World XI’ and squad.
At this point, I really need to clear something up that I have tried to explain but clearly haven’t done a very good job of doing. When the title of these videos says current, currently or right now, as I have said, I don’t literally mean the best over the course of this season, the best over the last month or the best last weekend. Those words are just used to differentiate these videos from our all time videos.
There is a big difference between current form and current ability. So in the last few weeks, Gerard Deulofeu has been much more effective than Mohamed Salah, but we still think Salah is the better player, you are of course welcome to disagree.
This is particularly pertinent in the case of Real Madrid players, with Los Blancos having enjoyed extraordinary success over the last few seasons but having a torrid time right now. The likes of Marcelo, Modric and Bale haven’t just become bad players overnight. One could say Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been better than Marcelo this season, and they may have a point, but I would have to disagree with anyone who argued that Wan-Bissaka was the better player.
So in the case of this video, the previous videos and all future videos to come in this series, please bare that in mind. We are only interested in current players and current ability, but that does not mean current form. I apologies on my behalf if that hadn’t been made clear until now, but I hope that will curb any future confusion. Of course, football is a game of opinions, and you will still almost certainly disagree with mine, but at least not for that reason anymore I hope.
With that in mind, here are our 7 best centre-backs in world football:
7. Mats Hummels
This was a really tricky seven to put together, and we will come to the honourable mentions between first and second place to give some recognition to those who just missed out. The first centre-back to make our seven proper though is Mats Hummels, who has been outstanding in the Bundesliga for almost a decade now.
His World Cup winning centre-back partnership with Jerome Boateng was one of the finest in recent history, and it was reunited at club level when Hummels returned to Bayern in 2016. Since then, Boateng has had a bit of a wobble, and Germany had a disastrous World Cup campaign, but Hummels’ overall performance levels have remained high.
Strong, intelligent and thoroughly capable of playing the ball out from the back, Hummels is among the best defenders in the world, and only the brilliance of those ahead of him limit him to just seventh place.
6. Giorgio Chiellini
Giorgio Chiellini of Italy looks on prior to the 2020 UEFA European Championships group J qualifying match between Italy and Finland at Stadio Friuli on March 23, 2019 in Udine, Italy.
Giorgio Chiellini and Mats Hummels are very different footballers, but both have been part of some of the finest backlines in modern history during their careers. Chiellini is an old head for the Old Lady now, aged 34 and having won 100 caps for Italy and seven Serie A title with Juve.
An aggressive centre-back who is typically the first to go out and press on any danger, Chiellini isn’t glamorous, technical or graceful, but he is brilliant at sniffing out danger and the type of player you’d always rather have with than against you.
He doesn’t fit the mould of the typical Beckenbauer-esque ball-playing centre-back that many of our subscribers will know I have a soft spot for, but it would take a fool to overlook Chiellini’s defensive nous. In terms of sheer defensive astuteness, we’d say he’s the second best on the planet, in terms of overall centre-back play, we’ve put him sixth.
5. Kalidou Koulibaly
It has taken a while for Kalidou Koulibaly to get the kind of wider acclaim outside of Italy that his play so richly deserves, but finally it seems to have arrived. The French-born Senegalese international has been superb since signing for Napoli in 2014, and he has made the Serie A Team of the Year in each of the last three seasons.
The 27-year-old is of course an absolute man-mountain who you wouldn’t want to get into an argument with, but his defensive positioning is also excellent, as well as being scrupulously strong but fair in the tackle.
It has been reported that Napoli want £90 million if they are to sell Koulibaly, and since Liverpool paid £75 million for Virgil van Dijk, that might not be the most ridiculous valuation.
4. Gerard Pique
Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona in action during the La Liga match between Real Betis Balompie and FC Barcelona at Estadio Benito Villamarin on March 17, 2019 in Seville, Spain.
Giorgio Chiellini may not be a player in the mould of our classical centre-half pivot, but Gerard Pique isn’t far off. The World Cup winner has been a sensational servant to Barcelona since rejoining his boyhood club from Manchester United in 2008, and he is now among the most decorated defenders in the sports history.
Aged 32 and still with plenty left in the tank, Pique has been excellent this season, but he may well prove difficult to replace when his time is up at the Camp Nou. Tall and elegant on the ball, Pique is a leader at Barca, as well as providing a real calmness and creativity from the back.
Defensively, our top three are a little stronger, but Pique is without doubt the most technically gifted centre-back in this seven.
3. Virgil van Dijk
Any of our top three could stake a claim to be the finest centre-back in world football, and strong cases could be made for and against all three. We start with Virgil van Dijk, meaning Liverpool fans will now be turning this video off in their droves. Don’t be so hasty, Anfield faithful, as I said, it wasn’t an easy decision, and we’ll start with the positives for van Dijk.
The 27-year-old is a defensive colossus, combining the physical strength of someone like Chiellini with a ball-playing prowess to match Hummels, if not quite on the same level as Pique. Whilst the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson has helped, Van Dijk has been the key to Liverpool’s new-found defensive solidity, leading the Reds from the back and doing it all seemingly with ease.
The counter-argument always thrown at Van Dijk is of course that he hasn’t won anything yet, barring a couple of titles in Scotland, but we wouldn’t count that against him. It is true, however, that van Dijk has only really been playing at the highest level for around 14 months, which isn’t even a fraction of every other player in this seven. We think he has the ability to be the best centre-back in the world, and he is already among the top few, but for now he takes third place.
2. Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos of Spain during the EURO Qualifier match between Spain v Norway at the Estadio de Mestalla on March 23, 2019 in Valencia Spain
Now, I really do hope you were watching during the introduction. Just as Marcelo featured in our left-backs video, which you should of course watch now if you haven’t already, Sergio Ramos features in our centre-backs one. Clearly, as with the rest of the Real Madrid team, Ramos isn’t having the best campaign of his career this season, but please don’t tell me he isn’t a top class player.
The reasons for Ramos’ unpopularity in many quarters is easily understandable, but I refuse to conflate the personal with the professional. On the pitch, we’re talking about a player who has been a key figure at the very highest level for more than a decade, consistently saving some of his finest performances for the biggest of stages.
The result has been a remarkably trophy-laden career, along with nine FIFPro World XI inclusions, which is bettered only by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. So you are welcome to consider Ramos to be one of the most disagreeable players on the planet, but I’d have to disagree with anyone who tried to deny his place among the finest centre-backs of the last 10-15 years.
0. Honourable Mentions
As always, we take a quick moment between first and second place to examine some of our honourable mentions, and I’ll try to be terse since I could wax lyrical about all of these players for their varied talents which saw them so nearly qualify for our final seven.
Perhaps the most unfortunate of all is Leonardo Bonucci, who until recently would have walked into this seven. At his best, Bonucci is even better than his centre-back partner Chiellini, but he hasn’t quite been the same player since joining AC Milan in 2017, albeit he is still a truly exceptional one.
Raphael Varane is a centre-back who looks the complete package when he’s at the races, a fine athlete with speed, aggression and strength, all twinned with an assured touch and a confidence on the ball. Similar compliments could be made of his international teammate Samuel Umtiti as well.
Other centre-backs who made my initial shortlist, and I’m sure there are some you’ll feel ought to be on there that aren’t, included Jose Gimenez, Jerome Boateng, Aymeric Laporte, Niklas Sule and Tottenham trio Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez.
So that’s it for our honourable mentions, make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss our right-back, defensive midfield, and all future videos in this series as well as so much more, and now here is your top spot…
1. Diego Godin
Diego Godin of Uruguay attends the press conference before the 2019 China Cup International Football Championship at Guangxi Sports Center on March 20, 2019 in Nanning, China.
As I have said, this wasn’t an easy decision, and cases can be made for each of the top three. However, deep down, I think we all know Diego Godin is the best centre-back in the world. Yes, even you, Real Madrid in Liverpool fans, if you look a little further, you will discover the truth.
Godin isn’t as strong as Chiellini or Koulibaly, he isn’t as quick as Boateng or Varane, nor is he as good on the ball as Pique or Laporte. What he is though, is the embodiment of all that is great about Atletico Madrid and this team assembled by Diego Simeone.
A playmaker and attacking midfielder in his teens, few players control the pattern of the play from the back quite like Godin, and although he is no Beckenbauer on the ball or in the pass, he is capable of bringing the ball out of defence.
Godin’s defensive positioning is the best in the world right now, his awareness is faultless and his bravery in routinely throwing himself in harm’s way for the good of his team is commendable. He also chipped in with eight goals during the season in which Atletico won an improbable La Liga title. Atletico Madrid will once again concede by far the fewest goals in La Liga this season, thanks in no small part to the man Diego Simeone says he would “never sell”.
The best centre-back in world football right now, and arguably the finest of the 2010’s, Diego Godin.
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