Is France Producing the next generation of Great Defenders?

With Zouma starting to prove himself at Chelsea, France have quite a collection of top Centerbacks under the age of 25. Laporte, Varane, Zouma, Mangala and Sakho are all names who immediately pop into mind when thinking of Franch CB's, there are other players like Umiti who could potentially player for the French National team.

Is there any other country who is rivalling them in terms of top CBs? And are we seeing the next great generation of defenders coming from France?

Well, the German CBs were good enough to win the World Cup, so they can't be that bad either ^^

Out of curiosity, who is the best young German CB's?

Kick wrote:Out of curiosity, who is the best young German CB's?

Jonathan Tah is GOAT on FM

Probably Ginter.

Though arguably Hoffenheim's Süle is having a great season, too, while Tah is pretty great, I'm more interested in the development of Süle and Ginter, simply because they're tall as f*ck, and we're running out of good, tall, players.


That being said, despite the neat talent pool we have, I probably agree with the OP that France is looking the best right now.

F*ck it, 5 years from now it'll probably be the Italians again anyway.

Ginter is awful, I'm sorry to say. Every time I've watched him play he looks a mess.

Maybe I'm just catching him on his days off every time, but the last thing I am with him is impressed.

But yeah agree on the French thing. I have them pegged down as my personal favorites for the Euros on their home soil.

Well, Ginter was great for Freiburg, sucked for Dortmund whenever Dortmund sucked, and now that they started to turn it around, he's looking good again.

Was one of the best Dortmund players on the pitch versus Juve, imho, but he's not getting enough minutes to judge his performances this season so far.

This is my mentally assigned potential. You know. Like how big he might get in Fifa Manager. I could be wrong, but I just see him potentially being the most complete of our young defenders.



On the French and the Euros, you might just be right. I kept saying, during the World Cup, that if we beat the French, we can beat everyone else. And lo and behold. They, IMHO, have the best midfield right after Germany as well.

TBH the potential of most German players is on FM. They've been producing good players in the last years and even now, but it's not like all of them are Ozils, Reuses or Mullers.

I didn't think about France at the Euros, Surely they'll have a core of Lloris, Varane, Zouma, Pogba, Griezmann, Lacazette and Benzema.

That could be very hard to beat, tbh.

Kick wrote:I didn't think about France at the Euros, Surely they'll have a core of Lloris, Varane, Zouma, Pogba, Griezmann, Lacazette and Benzema.

That could be very hard to beat, tbh.

I know we're straying slightly from the topic, but the French team at the U20 WC in 2013 was something special. Pogba, Kondogbia & Thauvin were v. good.

As for defenders, there's no guarantee that any of those listed will become great defenders individually, or that they will work well together in a team. I would agree that their next generation is extremely promising, though.

That's just the guys you know about. There's also:
- Fekir (he's a god)
- Kurzawa
- Bakayoko
- Rabiot
- Amavi
- Ntep
- Coman
- Tolisso

etc.

I just thought about it again and noticed we might be better off than I thought, I totally blanked on Badstuber, who is back, and doing really well. Still no decent fullbacks in sight though, I really hope Jung and Durm pan out.

Badstuber... god i hope Low actually plays him. Too bad Mertesacker retired from NT or it would be perfect

sportsczy wrote:That's just the guys you know about. There's also:
- Fekir (he's a god)
- Kurzawa
- Bakayoko
- Rabiot
- Amavi
- Ntep
- Coman
- Tolisso

etc.

I am a big fan of Kurzawa, I think he'll cement France's LB spot for years to come/

Was Kurzawa playing CB in the Arsenal game or did my eyes deceive me?

Germany and the Netherlands have some nice ones coming up also, but France definitely look good there.

By the way, what's up with Italy? In the past Italy was always *the* country of great defenders. I don't really watch much Serie A, so could anyone shed a light at what's coming up for Italy there?

Don't call me James wrote:Was Kurzawa playing CB in the Arsenal game or did my eyes deceive me?

He didn't start. He had a knock. He came in and played LB.

sportsczy wrote:

Don't call me James wrote:Was Kurzawa playing CB in the Arsenal game or did my eyes deceive me?

He didn't start. He had a knock. He came in and played LB.

Who was the bald guy that was playing CB then? I think the commentators mistook him for Kurzawa a couple of times and it got in my head that the bald guy was Kurzawa.

Yeah, I have no idea what Kurzawa actually looks like.

Gonna go google him

Okay so the guy wasn't bald (unless there is another shiny bald guy at Monaco). But had faded dyed blond hair which from a distance looked bald

Spoiler:

But yeah that was Kurzawa. Could've sworn he was playing CB at one point in the match.

Abdennour, is that who you're thinking of?

lol yup scartch that. Abdennour is the guy I was thinking of.

rwo power wrote:By the way, what's up with Italy? In the past Italy was always *the* country of great defenders. I don't really watch much Serie A, so could anyone shed a light at what's coming up for Italy there?

They also have some strong defenders coming up. Specifically Rugani and Romagnoli will be their backbone of the future IMO. Rugani could be the next Italian great he's incredible. If I had to guess in like 4 years or so Italy probably has a back 4 of Santon, Romagnoli, Rugani and Sciglio.

You can say all you want about this and that player with great technique... but my word does Matuidi have the heart of a lion. Blanc moved Cavani central when Ibra got ejected against Chelsea and asked Matuidi to cover 2 positions.... and he played his side better despite being outnumbered 2v1 for 100 mins.

That kind of stamina and heart can't be taught just like great technique. None of these kids is going to bench the current Matuidi.

Kick wrote:I didn't think about France at the Euros, Surely they'll have a core of Lloris, Varane, Zouma, Pogba, Griezmann, Lacazette and Benzema.

That could be very hard to beat, tbh.

Yo Imma let you finish but Koscielny is the best French CB atm

I can see him not playing though given his drop in NT stock after that Ukraine WC qualifier.