Van Dijk, Dias, Rudiger: Who is the best centre-back in the world?

Modern football demands more from its centre-backs than ever before.

Tactical masterminds like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have transitioned the game to a point where centre-backs can no longer just be exceptional stoppers.

It’s no longer enough to be a Jamie Carragher – sorry Jamie – the elite defenders of this era need to be skilled in the art of crafting their teams’ attacks.

That means being comfortable on the ball, but it also means having the intelligence to play high up the pitch, as well as having the physical attributes to get back in time should the opposition forwards penetrate their defensive line.

Virgil van Dijk has set the bar in recent years, and he has widely been received as the best defender in the world throughout that spell; however, the towering Dutchman did have a rather serious ACL injury last season which means he has had some questions to answer when it comes to returning to the peak of his powers shown previous.

It was July 2021 that Van Dijk made his return, so nearly twelve months on, FourFourTwo set out to rank who are, in fact, the world’s greatest centre-backs currently.

Check out their top 10 below:

10. Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain)

9. Jules Kounde (Sevilla)

8. Eder Militao (Real Madrid)

7. Joel Matip (Liverpool)

6. Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City)

5. Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)

4. Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea)

3. David Alaba (Real Madrid)

2. Ruben Dias (Manchester City)

1. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

It was never really in doubt, was it?

Van Dijk has been imperious for the Reds since he joined, transforming them into a near unstoppable force at times.

The Dutchman even recently set a new Premier League record as having the longest undefeated home run of any player in history – standing