There will never be a moment, at the top level of European football, where every club will be legitimately happy with their central-defensive stock.
It's a hugely important position and can be as difficult to solve as the No. 9 role, so any top young centre-backs are often snapped up early and honed.
As January rolls around, we can count upwards of five major clubs across Europe who seem centre-back-needy, including three in the Premier League.
With that in mind, here's a festive tip-off: three centre-backs who are exhibiting signs of top potential and are worth looking into this winter.
Jairo Riedewald, Ajax
Ajax sit atop the Eredivisie table as we enter the Christmas period, and, as typically delightful as they've been from an attacking perspective, defensive solidity has formed a huge part of their early seasonal successes.
After 17 games they've conceded just 11 goals. If they replicate that record over the second half of the campaign, they’ll end up conceding just 22—a 25 percent reduction on last year’s tally of 29.
We associate flowing, attacking football, pass-and-move play and remarkable golazos with De Godenzonen, but Frank de Boer has constructed a stunning back line for the 2015-16 campaign.
If the Eredivisie title is to be hauled in for a 34th time in 2016, it’ll be just as much to do with defensive stinginess as it is offensive firepower.
Joel Veltman is the oldest member of the regular back four at 23 years of age—a fact that makes this fledgling group’s achievements even more impressive—and it wasn’t long ago the Dutchman’s name was being whispered in glowing terms.
But another has risen to the fore and stolen the show—his central-defensive partner—and he goes by the name of Jairo Riedewald. At just 19 years of age, he might well be one of the most complete footballers you see this year.
Already a full Dutch international and trusted member of the setup, the sky genuinely seems to be the limit for this kid. He’s proved superb centrally and at left-back, while he can also mix it in holding midfield too.
A positive, snappy defender, he’s exceptional from a positional standpoint and consistently takes up strong positions. He’s always there to clear crosses before they reach the box, and he senses, innately, when to step out and dispossess higher up. His success rate with this move is astonishing.
He brings the ball out from the back as one would expect from an Ajax centre-back, dancing through challenges and causing panic in midfields. His long-range passing is absolutely ridiculous; he can spark attacks either by dribbling forward and beating men one-on-one, or by sitting back and firing 50-yard balls to waiting wingers.
Riedewald is alarmingly complete for one so young.
Jonathan Tah, Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen’s defence has been a bit leakier than Ajax’s over 17 games, conceding 20 goals compared to their 11. Still, that’s good for the fourth-best record in the Bundesliga—a genuine achievement considering the hectic playing style they utilise.
Only two players have started every single league game over the first half of the season: Bernd Leno, the goalkeeper, and Tah, a 19-year-old centre-back making huge strides (both figuratively and literally) on the pitch.
A €10 million acquisition this summer from Hamburg, he spent 2014-15 honing his craft at Fortuna Dusseldorf on loan in the 2. Bundesliga, and the lessons taught have clearly landed.
In the same way Kurt Zouma got by on bulk a little to begin with, Tah was using his gigantic 6'3" frame to his advantage but lacked the defensive toolkit to accompany it.
This season, though, he’s been absolutely fantastic, and a more accurate comparison can be found in Mamadou Sakho: aggressive, overbearing and looks like he might give the ball away quite often, he rarely actually does. It’s the drawback of having a big frame and long, lumbering legs: you look awkward; even if you don’t actually lose the ball, people assume you do.
Tah has immense speed on his side once he breaks into his stride, is comfortable playing in space and executes recovery runs very well. His long legs come in handy here; he backs off until just the right time, then sticks a limb in and fishes the ball out from a position most can’t.
He’s good with the ball, capable of wriggling out of tight situations, and has flashed wonderful accuracy with his long-range passing—though that’s far from a consistent element to his game.
Truly, he’s been thrown in at the deep end under Roger Schmidt—his high-press system demands a very high line and gives the defenders very little protection (sometimes they play Kevin Kampl in holding midfield)—but he remains fully afloat.
It’s been an education for Tah, and the extent to which he’s improved and adapted has sparked immense excitement over how far he can go.
Paulo Oliveira, Sporting Club Portugal
Of the three centre-backs here, Oliveira is by far the most “traditional.” He has some bonus abilities, but his core strengths lie exactly where you would expect them to: in timing challenges, executing slides, tightly marking strikes and leading a line.
He’s been a near-ever-present (12 appearances from a possible 14) in a seemingly ever-changing Sporting back line, with no fewer than seven players starting two or more games in the Liga NOS so far this season. He does his job with minimal fuss, makes very few mistakes, and has therefore earned the trust of manager Jorge Jesus.
Despite the rotating nature of the personnel, the Leoes have conceded just seven goals from 14 games—a ridiculous 0.5 goals per contest. Granted, the poverty gap between Portugal’s top three (Sporting, Benfica, FC Porto) and the rest is about as sizeable as it gets, but that’s still incredible.
Oliveira’s built on some very impressive performances for the Portugal under-21 team at the European Championships last summer, where he partnered Tiago Ilori (and later club-mate Tobias Figueiredo) to a final berth and an unfortunate loss to Sweden. He was the commander in the line and did the dirty work required with minimal fuss.
The 23-year-old’s greatest asset is, undoubtedly, his studiousness in marking and tackling. It’s notable that when Sporting are enjoying periods of possession high up but then lose the ball, facing a quick counter-attack, Oliveira is able to eliminate the opposition’s out-ball option just by sticking so close to him he can’t turn or collect.
He trusts his pace and he trusts his own timing in the challenge, and like Tah, he’s able to stick a leg in and retrieve balls from odd angles. He’s not overbearingly physical; he’s just extremely and inevitably precise.
Oliveira is very capable with the ball at his feet and pushes forward with intent, and he can be seen sliding nice passes in for his full-backs and wingers to chase in behind.
He’s not flashy, though, and every action he carries out has a rudimentary or economic feel to it—even if it’s a piece of defensive wizardry few can pull off.
In that respect, you might say he’s the ultimate safe pair of hands...or feet.
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