In order to recommend defenders, we need to first establish what makes a good defender.

This is quite subjective as most stats to measure defensive output don& #39;t take into account whether the player was out of position before making (for example) a tackle, in the first place.
A potential place to start would be to look at what metrics the "best" defenders excel in.

Below is Van Dijk& #39;s 18/19 POTY season in numbers.

- 93% of dribblers tackled
- 0 errors leading to shots
- 71% Tackle win rate
- 81% Aerial win rate

Incredible stat line.
Along with these stats Van Dijk is 6& #39;4, fast, strong and possessed great co-ordination for his body type, along with ability on the ball, which will be discussed later.

Any club looking for an effective centre-back should ideally look for a similar profile.
Not many, including Van Dijk himself, will ever touch these stats for a long time but taking them into account a optimistic filter to start for a new centre-back could be:

- 50% of dribblers tackled
- 60% Tackle win rate
- 67% Aerial win rate
If we filter for U24 centre backs based on the criteria we set, 9 names are found int the top 5 leagues. Some well known players there being:

- Ozan Kabak
- Gabriel
- Mohammed Salisu

The likes of Pau Torres and Tapsoba very narrowly miss out.
But Van Dijk didn& #39;t just excel defensively, he was also very useful when progressing the ball, in 18/19 Van Dijk had:

- 614 metres progressed by passing per game
- 4.84 passes into the final 3rd
- 90% pass completion
- 86% long pass completion

Elite numbers.
Taking this into account, a potential filter to search for a centre-back could be:

- 350 metres progressed by passing per 90
- 2.4 passes into the final 3rd per 90
- 85% pass completion
- 75% long pass completion
If we look for U24 centre backs based on the criteria we set, it narrows down the previous 9 names to:
- Ozan Kabak
- Nikola Milenković
- Gabriel
- Duje Ćaleta-Car
An issue with Arsenal CB& #39;s in recent times is their rashness a trait that our previous example, Van Dijk doesn& #39;t show.

Ordering the 4 names based on least fouls p90 we get:

1. Gabriel (0.96)
2. Ozan Kabak (1.14)
3. Duje Ćaleta-Car (1.29)
4. Nikola Milenković (1.44)
With Saliba being right footed it would also be preferred that the other CB would be left-footed to play on the left side. Below are the four, ranked on the percentage of times they use their left foot:

1. Gabriel 93%
2. Ćaleta-Car 30%
3. Ozan Kabak 12%
4. Milenković 12%
Physically, It would be ideal for a CB to be fast, yet strong, whilst still mobile. This is very hard to measure through stats but from watching them, none of them suffer in any of the aspects. I noticed Gabriel to be particularly powerful when challenging for the ball.
And finally, although this doesn& #39;t account for off-ball errors (ie losing a runner), below shows the defenders ranked on how often they made errors leading to shots this season:

- Gabriel 0 in 23.2 90& #39;s
- Kabak 0 in 18.2 90& #39;s
- Milenkovic 1 in 25 90& #39;s
- Caleta-Car 1 in 21 90& #39;s
RANKINGS:
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