Zach Brown Jersey Leading on from the top 10 goalkeepers in the world; I now present you the top 10 Centre-backs in the world. Remember, this ispartly judgedon recent performances and partly on permanent cla s. Enjoy, comment and discu s and remember to look out for the remaining four articles in this series of 6, the next one being the top 10 full-backs.Centre-backsHonourable mentions:Diego Godin An old school centre-half who bought into the Simeone way from the very beginning to great effect. His dogged style and aerial prowe s means he is now crucial for club and country. He was ever-present during Atletis title-winning season and popped up with some crucial goals as well during the run in.Englands other Uruguayan nemesis. Very unlucky not to make the 10.Laurent Koscielny It took him a while. Finally, Laurent Koscielny has matured into the composed and efficient centre-back Arsenal fans hoped for after a couple of years of consistently good performances. The days of a long and lanky Frenchman makingdevastating mistakes are behind him and, along with Per Mertersacker, made a formidable central defence for Arsenal this season. His pace and tackling are sorely mi sed when he is injured. Now a regular for France too.Leonardo Bonucci Part of a formidable trio at the back for Juventus at the back along with Andrea Barzalgi and Giorgio Chiellini. Rock hard and po se ses terrific positioning, he can also play at sweeper. Not flashy but tough as nails and now has 38 caps for Italy. He once punched an armed robber who tried to mug him and chased him down the street. He also chases away Serie A strikers with his fantastic defending.10. Medhi Benatia AS Roma and Morocco 27 Arguably a shock inclusion but Medhi Benatia has had that good a season. Signed from Udinese last summer for around11.5 million, he has been a rock at the centre ofRomas defenceas theyenjoyeda terrific season inSerieA conceding a miserly25 goals; only bettered byrunaway champions Juventus. Hereads the game well, is good positionally and comfortable with the ball at his feet, healso popped up with somegoals of his own; scoring 5 in the league for Roma. Heavily linked with a move away, po sibly to the Premier League with both Manchester clubs interested. Him and Vincent Kompany in the centre of defence would be amatch for anyone but Roma have understandably set a high price tag and staying at the club where he has excelled and will play regularly (in the Champions League as well) may benefit
Andrew Sendejo Jersey him. Certainly theres no centre-back more in-form and full of confidence in the world right now. 9. Giorgio Chiellini Juventus and Italy 29 A force of nature, from another planet said the great Italian manager Walter Mazzari about Giorgio Chiellini its difficult to disagree. A tall, strong, old-school catenaccio-style defender, Chiellini is one of those defenders thatthe purists particularly those of a Juventus or Italian persuasion just love to watch. Previously
Nick Foles Jersey a left-back, he is comfortable on the ball, hard in the tackle and a hugely determined figure on the pitch.Surprisingly, he is still only29 and undoubtedly has quite a few years leftof playing, with his 100th cap for Italy looking likely to come at some point. He is hugely popular in Turin and was made vice-captain last year before leading them to a third straight Serie A title with a records points tally, conceding just 23 goals along the way. Oh, and I forgot to mention he was bitten by some Uruguayan fella named Suarez And then called the ban exce sive! Just another year for Giorgio.8. Dante Bayern Munich and Brazil 30 A late bloomer, Dante only emerged as one of the great centre-backs in 2012 when he joined Bayern at the age of 28. Since then he has moulded himself into a disciplined defender; merging aggre sion and power with composure and anticipation. At the heart of a record-breaking Bayern team and defence that conceded just 23 goals all season, theres no doubt that Bayerns attacking brilliance and po se sion football could not take place without the crazy-haired Brazilian marshalling their rigid back-line. Emerged as a po sible centre-back partner for Thiago Silva at the World Cup but lost out to the more mercurial David Luiz; in the end only taking part in the horrific 7-1 drubbing by Germany in the semi-final stepping in for the suspended captain. That, and poor displays against the pace of Real Madrids front line in both legs of the Champions League semi-final mean he isnt higher on this list and are the only blemishes on his career in the past two seasons. Not bad for someone most of us hadnt
Jason Peters Jersey heard of before that.7. David Luiz Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil 27 He will always have his critics, but on his day (on his day mind you), there are very few footballers let alone centre-backs better than David Luiz. Perhaps that is what persuaded Paris Saint-Germain to part with a reported 40 million and make him the worlds most expensive defender ever, toforce Chelsea part with him. He had also previously been linked with Barcelona in what wouldve seemed an extremely unlikely switch. He often suffers from lapses of concentration and his form is so fluctuating its difficult to know what he will be like for any given match; as shown at the World Cup where he followed a match winning performance and a terrific free-kick against Colombia in the quarter-final with a devastating performance (along with the rest of the
Alshon Jeffery Jersey team) against Germany in the semis as captain. However, what you can say is he is very pa sionate and throws himself into every single tackle, header, anthem and match almost like a young child full of willing and spirit. Sometimes he must reign that in and Mourinho appeared to be getting the best out of him in aholding midfield role at Chelsea where any mistakes he madewere le s costly and exposed; in fact, heproduced some of his best performances in that position. What PSG can offer which Chelsea cant is a central defence partner of Thiago Silva; a player who seems almost a father figure to Luiz and who seems to get the best out of him for the national team, as that devastating semi-final showed. Already loved by millions, for those who are yet to be convinced, we may yet see the making of David Luiz at PSG.6. Raphal Varane Real Madrid and France 21 Jose Mourinho says he is the best young defender in the world whilst Franck Leboeuf, the former France defender, saysMany compare him to Hierro due to his technique, but on the physical level he is stronger and he is much faster when discu sing the likene s between the Real Madrid legend and their current young starlet.At 21, Varane has the world at his feet and dont expect that to overwhelm him. Exc
