Another year-end review! This series is fun, isn’t it? The time for evaluation is now—end of the year—almost every firm in the world does a calendar year review. While Sports Courant might not be a firm, we still do the year-end review of footballers around the globe, which constitutes of Europe exclusively in this regard.
Attack, they say, wins you games while defence wins you championships. The sad part is that it is mainly the attackers who are in the spotlight for the things that they do. Scoring goals is the most crucial part, but saving goals holds an equal place as well.
So without further ado, here were the top 5 defenders from 2017.
5 Leonardo Bonucci
Had he replicated his Juventus form with AC Milan, he might as well have been higher on this list. It seems as though Cristiano Ronaldo’s exceptional performance in the final of the Champions League against Juventus left a mark on him.
Nevertheless, one can’t deny the influence this man has on his team. Be it Juventus or Milan; he holds an astute figure at the heart of a defence, someone who instils confidence in his peers.
4 Niklas Sule
Do you know how to judge a player playing in the Bundesliga? Simple. What all of you have to do is check whether he is playing for Bayern Munich—and Niklas Sule falls in that category. The reward for playing well for any German team not named Bayern is actually booking a place in Bayern.
So after a brilliant season with Hoffenheim, the Bavarians quickly swooped in for the German defender as he now plies his trade for the biggest club in Germany—and his jump has not caused him to hit a wall. Indeed, he has started 14 games for the German giants in Champions League, and Bundesliga combined, cementing his place as a starter for the club.
3 Nicolas Otamendi
At one point in time, Otamendi was on his way out of the club—at least that is what many thought. He wasn’t as reliable as he displayed during his Valencia days and the fans thought that he might be another one of Pellegrini’s failed musings.
Enter Pep Guardiola.
Ever since the Catalan’s entry to the Etihad, Otamendi has been a completely different player—a beast—who Guardiola rates as the best player in the team.
“Everybody speaks about a lot of players, like Raheem, like Kevin, like David, like Sergio, and they deserve it, but if I would like to point to some player who deserves all the respect for what we have done until now, it’s Nico.”
Big praise from the big man!
2 Samuel Umtiti
The quandary of Barcelona started when Carles Puyol retired. The Catalan was an absolute beast in defence that had a heart of a lion. Beside him, even the erratic Gerard Pique became a great defender. However, after he retired, Barcelona found it difficult to replace their captain until they signed Samuel Umtiti.
The Frenchman has been the best defender in La Liga ever since making his entry at the Camp Nou. Indeed, after Lionel Messi, Umtiti is the best player for the Catalans—someone that can’t be easily replaced.
1 Federico Fazio
What? I mean, isn’t he a Tottenham reject? He might be, but the way he has transformed his career in Italy is quite astounding, to say the least. The Argentine had such a good season in 2016-17 that he was named as the best defender in Italy.
And he carried on that form this season, as well as Roma, have conceded the least amount of goals in Serie A this season—and Fazio has been the biggest reason for it.
