7 Greatest Centre-Backs Since 2000

ball players Ball winners Stoppers sweepers and Phil Jones center backs come in all different shapes and sizes and they are the foundations upon which all great teams are built the famous Liverpool team of the 1980s had Alan Hanson and Martin lawrenson Italy's 1982 World Cup winners could rely upon Claudio Gentile Giuseppe bagomi and Gaetano sharaya and that Evelyn's Euro 88 winners were blessed with a fantastic partnership a Frank Wright guard and Ronald Coleman forget about those old house beans for now though we've already covered them in a similar series to this one on the seven greatest players in every position of all time now we turn our attention to just the last 23 years though since the turn of the Millennium in the third video of this series you could be forgiven for thinking that I had forgot about this series given that it is two and a half months since the last video on right backs but the reality T is just that these videos don't get quite as many views as my usual ones and I don't know if you've noticed but inflation is absolutely through the roof as always feel free to start from the goalkeepers 7 if you haven't already seen it where I lay out the criteria in more detail but all candidates and inclusions are based upon the quality and quantity of each player's performances solely since January 1st 2000 with obviously a great deal of subjectivity thrown in there since it is just me interpreting those two data points Lauren Blanc for instance was still a very good Center back in the year 2000 but he was already past his best and he retired in 2003. so he didn't even make my shortlist meanwhile Kim minjai was among the best center-backs in Europe last season but it was also his first season playing in a top European League which means that it is far too early for him to even be considered how hopefully that all makes sense then so without any further Ado who was a forward of course here are in my view and in my view only the world's seven best center-backs since 2000 seventh Fabio canavaro the only center-back since 2000 to have won the Ballon d'Or and one of only three Defenders to have ever won the prestigious award though will inevitably be someone in the comments who claims that means that he should be first that isn't the criteria of course I promise you there will still be someone but cannavaro was indeed a magnificent center-back the shortest inclusion in this seven cannavaro stood at just five feet and nine inches tall and still does I presume but what he lacked in height he more than made up for in terms of his strength and intelligence deceptively quick canavaro was studious in researching his opponents brilliant at interrupting a forward's flow and a master at reading the game there can be no doubt that the 2000 0006 World Cup was his Magnum outpus where he inspired an immensely talented but largely unfancied Italy team following the caltropolis Scandal to their fourth world cup Crown in light of the caltropolis Scandal caravaro then of Juventus and formerly of Napoli Palmer and Inter Milan followed Fabio Capello to Real Madrid three years later he returned to UVA and a year after that he retired in the United Arab Emirates cannavaro's immense Peak which was as impressive as almost anyone else is in this Seven Twin with his Sublime all-round skill set secured him a spot in this seven but the fact that his first seven years of football fall outside of our post 2000 remit and the fact that he retired in 2011 means that he could only ever be our opening inclusion sixth John Terry one of the greatest center backs in terms of the pure defensive fundamentals in the entire history of the sport John Terry appeared to have been born with a defensive Sixth Sense and reading of the game though most center-backs don't fully hone until they are into their mid to late 20s if ever at all that made him an immediate Starman for Chelsea just before the start of the 2000s where he learned from one of the very best in the business in the form of his Center back partner Marcel Desai when Desai left Chelsea in 2004 though Terry was still aged only 23 incoming Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho appointed him as the club's new captain Terry Captain Chelsea for the next 13 years during which time he lifted 16 trophies sometimes even when he hadn't even played in the final in addition to his masterful positioning and reading of the game Terry was big strong formidable in the air in both boxes and an inspirational figure for many in the Chelsea dressing room though it would seem a stretch to call Terry a ball playing center-back as it was off the ball where he really flourished he was also more than capable of playing pinpoint diagonal balls out wides her either flank Terry made the thief Pro World 11 on five occasions which is the second most of any center-back and the fact that his career from 1998 to 2018 Falls almost entirely within our time jurisdiction meant that he was always likely to feature his center-back partnership with Ricardo Carvalho is probably the most defensively solid in the history of the Premier League and his Portuguese partner in crime also made the shortlist for this seven but we will come to the honorable mentions later on fifth Rio Ferdinand Rio Ferdinand is an idiot I'm sorry but someone had to say it so too is John Terry if we are being entirely honest but that doesn't change the fact that both were supremely talented center-backs I mean no one suggested that it did Alfie but you've just called them idiots for no reason anyway having these two so close together in this seven is inevitably going to lead to debates and some controversy in the comments but there is no doubt in my mind at least that Rio Ferdinand was at the very least a more gifted footballer than his longtime England teammate and well it might be pushing it to call it comrade in fact despite being one of the most decorated English footballers of all time I would go as far as to say that with his talents Ferdinand arguably ought to have made the top three in this seven in his defense his career did begin in 1996 with his breakout campaign coming in the 1997-98 season which is three full years of football that we are forced to disregard and they are three years it should be said aged 18-21 in which Ferdinand was already a full England International Ferdinand was blessed in more ways than one a tremendous athlete he was big strong and fast brilliants are organizing a back line he wasn't hot-headed and positionally he was very rarely found out on the ball he was England's best center-back for at least the last 30 years capable of striding out from defense beating players and picking a pass Ferdinand made more appearances in the PFA Team of the Year six than any other premier league center-back and I found it near enough impossible to split him and the man up next fourth Tiago Silva this might be a controversial view partly due to recency bias I suspect but I actually think that Rio Ferdinand was probably a better sense of act than Thiago Silva if I could only take one of them at their absolute Peak I'd pick Ferdinand because there was virtually nothing that he couldn't do the reason why thiago's silver features one place ahead of Fernand then in fourth are twofold firstly he's much younger which means that his entire career Falls within the relevant time period since 2000 and secondly his longevity every player in this seven had impressive longevity otherwise they wouldn't have featured but none were as impressive at 38 years of age as Thiago Silva is right now just one month into next season he'll turn 39 and it would take a brave man to bet against him playing into his 40s remarkably silver actually retired from football in 2000 5 as a 21 year old having almost died of a nasty bout of tuberculosis whilst contracted to dinamal Moscow Silvera just had a failed stint at Porto and never played for dinamo but his mother convinced him to give football a second chance and the rest as they say is history Silva's career was reborn with fluminense before he returned to Europe with AC Milan in 2012 he joined PSG where he would spend the next eight seasons becoming one of the club's all-time record appearance soldiers they're quite a new club when Chelsea signed Silva already into his late 30s in the summer of 2020 few could have anticipated how Kia role and just how much football he would play for them and last season he won both the Chelsea Player of the Year and Chelsea players Player of the Year Awards though you know there wasn't that much competition a superbal rounder silver was once very and is still relatively quick he is a remarkable athlete dogged in his defensive duties a born leader and Incredibly composed on the ball it speaks of the caliber of the center-backs up next that he only takes fourth place third Alessandro Nesta if we consider Paolo Maldini to be a left-back which we are for the purposes of this series and acknowledge that Franco barazi retired not long after I was born I would say Alessandro Nesta is the single most gifted or talented center-back during my lifetime in fact even including barazi I think that that claim could still be made among the most aesthetically pure center-backs ever to have played the game Nesta May defending looked like it was second nature he was quick and hellishly strong having started out as a fullback but he rarely required his athleticism to get him out of trouble instead Nestor dispossessed his opponents with all of the subtlety of a master pickpocket sometimes without them even realizing what had actually happened Nestor could be tenacious and aggressive in the tackle when he wanted formidable in the air as graceful as a ballerina with a ball at his feet and as accurate as most Playmakers in the past in short then there was nothing that he couldn't do and there was also virtually nothing that he didn't win whether that be Saria the Champions League or the World Cup so why doesn't Nestor take top spots well that's solely because he began his career in 1994 so he had six years of football outside of our remit and from the mid-2000s onwards he suffered chronic injury problems nonetheless Nestor didn't actually retire until the age of 38 he had about 11 years of vintage Football Post 2000 and his Peak was as good as anyone's so third it is second Carlos Puyol only a fool would suggest that Carlos Puyol was as talented as Alessandro Nesta but there are several key factors in relation to this series that counts in his favor for a start he broke into the Barcelona first team in the 1999-2000 season enjoying an excellent debut campaign right at the beginning of our relevant time frame then there's the fact that unlike Nestor he suffered very few serious injuries the 2010-11 season was puyol's most injury play Campaign barring his final season and he still played 27 times as Barcelona won the travel the end result is that Puyol played a lot more football at the very highest level post 2000 and whilst he might not have been as graceful as Alessandro Nesta we are still talking about a generational Defender primarily a center-back though he was no stranger to playing it right back bars are actually tested Puyol out both as a goalkeeper and as a striker in lamazia as well as in holding Midfield he came out of that experience as a very well-rounded footballer then but it was his leadership skills and work ethic that really marked him out as a future Superstar it wasn't until the age of 27 that Puyol actually won his first trophy at basa yet he retired at 36 with 18 of them including six La Liga titles and three UEFA Champions League crowns it was following the emergence of the likes of Javi Iniesta and Lionel Messi the Puyol really came into his own providing a Barcelona team which had an abundance of skill Garland creativity with the necessary grit and nastiness required to turn them into killers and winners so Puyol was the captain and the defensive linchpin in the defining team of the post-2000s era to date he was announced standing center-back who had great longevity and played almost all of his football within the relevant period so you know that's enough to make him our runner-up zero honorable Mansions as always there are far too many great post-2000 center-backs for me to mention them all but I just wanted to acknowledge those that came closest to featuring before we come to top spot Lily and soram Roberto Ayala and Yap Stam were all world-class center backs who made my shortlist but missed out in large part because they play much of their best football before the turn of the Millennium John Stones Raphael Moran Virgil Van dijk mats Hummels Pepe Diego Godin and Jerome Boateng were the only current players to make my shortlist and theoretically a couple of them could sneak in ahead of canavaro if they were to have two or three more outstanding seasons though it is quite hard to see it elsewhere nemanjevich Ricardo Carvalho Lucio Sol Campbell Gerard PK Leonardo bernucci and Vincent company all made my second narrow down shortlist but the sensorback who came closest of Auto featuring was Giorgio chiolini now playing for lafc in major league soccer at the age of 38. keolini is probably the least technically gifted player to even make my shortlist but there are only a couple who had better pure defensive fundamentals born to defend keolini loved the battle with their Center forward a front foot Defender who was Fearless aggressive and brave and attacking the ball with a nose to show for it I think that he is incredibly unfortunate to miss out on my seven but that is the nature of this series Without further Ado then here is your top spot first Seria Ramos I suspect that this one will divide opinion not least because it divided my own opinion when I was deliberating the order of my final seven but ultimately I think that Sergio Ramos has to take top spots was he as good of a center-back as Alessandro Nesta or even Rio Ferdinand absolutely not was he or is he as composed and positionally sound as Thiago Silva or John Terry it is highly debatable but what Ramos has been throughout his 20 years in football is absolutely unrelenting in terms of his mentality commitments of the sport and determination to win every game and every competition that he has ever taken part in the end result is the largest trophy cabinet in this seven consisting of Seven League titles four Champions Leagues the World Cup and two Euros Ramos has also remained at the very highest level throughout the entire charity of those 20 years all of which fall within our remit Ramos was signed by Real Madrid in 2005 following his breakout campaign at severe as a 19 year old becoming the first Spaniard signed by Real Madrid following Florentino Perez's election as president in 2000 and the most expensive Spanish teenager and defender of all time to say that he justified his massive fee would be a tremendous understatement a fantastic athlete a brilliant pastor of the ball and one of the most eerily formidable players of the Millennium Ramos went on to play 671 games for Los Blancos captaining the club following Ikea casillas's departure Ramos ranks fourth in Real Madrid's all-time appearance charts first in Spains and sixth in the history of international football and he made 11 Thief Pro World 11 appearances which is more than double any other center-back and puts him Third only to Messi and Ronaldo no sensorback in all all of world football has played more games than Sergio Ramos since 2000 almost a thousand of them in case you were wondering and every one of them has been at the elite level facts are in his big game credentials which are the best of anyone in this seven his leadership skills and his extraordinary longevity and consistency given that the criteria is the quality and quantity of a player's post 2000 appearances and it just feels right that Ramos should take top spot anyway that is it for today's video I'm sure that you have many disagreements with me but hit the like button if you enjoyed it let me know your thoughts and those disagreements Down Below in the comments you know try and keep it respectful no death threats if you can help it and obviously it goes without saying make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on both for this Channel and my backup Channel both of which should be on your screens or right about to appear on your screens now along with a couple of videos that you might want to watch after this one you can also find me on either Twitter or Instagram via the username at hrtc Sims on both should you wish to do so

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 109,789

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Best, Greatest, Centre-Backs, Centre Backs, Since 2000, Footballers, Defenders, Centre, Backs, Premier League, Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand, Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos, Man Utd, Chelsea, AC Milan, Barcelona

Id: fBVDFqFq2g0

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 18 2023