Do you have roughly £100m spare? You do? Amazing! Then you can probably buy just one of the following five central defenders.
Ignore the guys who bang in all the goals. In the current age, preventing said goals seems to be the financially crippling way of splashing your cash. Truth is, there aren't many outstanding central defenders in world football who won't bankrupt you. The same goes for those who aren't very good either too *cough John Stones cough*.
Fear not though, there'll be no overpriced Englishman featuring on this 'ere list. Instead, we've got the five best central defenders playing this beloved game of ours, in glorious ranked format for you all to scrutinise heavily. Enjoy.
5. Kalidou Koulibaly
Pretty much every set of supporters yearning for a central defender these days cry out for their club to sign Kalidou Koulibaly. All this, generally, without seeing him actually play football.
For that, many will frown at the thought of him not being higher up on this list. As fabulous as the 29-year-old is, however, he's not as complete as the others listed below.
What he is though, is a battering ram of a defender who's about as easy to pass as a Masters degree in quantum mechanics. While there are other defenders more well-rounded than the Senegalese, there are few, if any, as a striker you'd rather not come up against.
He oozes an almost arrogant demeanour that suggests 'you will not get the better of me'. Fact is, few ever do.
4. Matthijs de Ligt
It's a matter of time, isn't it? While we all speak about Matthjis de Ligt in glowing terms as one of the finest around, soon enough it will be a case of him being the finest around.
Well on course already at just 21 years old, Juventus saw the very best of the Dutchman last season, after a (very) brief bedding in period. As soon as he found his feet though, he was back to being the man mountain that took the Netherlands and the Champions League by storm.
De Ligt's situation is one of those cases where there is no obvious room for improvement. Fine tuning here and there, sure, but he's alreadly freakishly outstanding in every department.
3. Raphael Varane
Based on recent weeks, it might be hard to fully justify Raphael Varane's inclusion in at number three. But us football fans can be fickle, overlooking the fact that the Frenchman has been a stalwart in the Real Madrid defence for the past six seasons.
The 27-year-old, above those who've already listed, boasts a trophy cabinet littered with incredible, record-breaking achievements.
Four Champions League titles, three of which coming in succession? A World Cup crown? Three La Liga successes and another four domestic trophies? Yeah, not bad.
Varane is on a different level.
2. Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos has been so consistently good for for the best part of 15 years that we can forgive him for his quite atrocious documentary series. Seriously, don't waste your time watching it.
What you should spend your time on is reading through his 26 senior trophies, 650 Madrid appearances and near 100-goal haul from defence.
It's as if he's trying to be a modern age Ronald Koeman with his outrageous scoring feats. He hit no less than 13 en route to another La Liga title last season, but ignoring goals for a moment, he was also an integral part of the best defence in the top five European leagues.
This all coming at a time where many expected him to be winding his career down. A move to China was mooted, but he stood firm, held the fort and secured Los Blancos just their second league title in eight years. Will go down as an all-time great. Rightly so.
1. Virgil van Dijk
De Kapitein Virgil van Dijk! (That's 'the captain' in his lingo!)
Anyway, enough Scottish enlightenment, let's talk about the best central defender - and defender overall - in the world, Van Dijk.
A cool £75m was spent to bring him to Anfield, but his expensive presence brought with it more gold than Liverpool could ever have imagined. Transforming the outlook of the club, its history and now its future, this Dutch delight will continue to build his legacy on Merseyside for a healthy number of years to come.
All that's missing is some success with the Netherlands. Euro 2021 is coming up next summer and alongside De Ligt, the Oranje have the best central defensive pairing in Europe, so why not?
He can put that trophy alongside his shiny Premier League and Champions League medals.
Source : 90min