The Top 50 Defenders In World Football Right Now Have Been Named And Ranked

John Stones has beaten fellow Manchester City teammates Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias to be named the best centre-back in world football right now.

The 26-year-old defender has had a remarkable turn of fortunes at City since his initial £47.5m move from Everton in 2016.

Stones has become an instrumental figure in Pep Guardiola's plans and forged a formidable partnership with Dias, who has been widely praised for his impact at City this season.

The England international has made 33 appearances in all competitions this season as City have captured both the Premier League title and League Cup trophy.

Stones can add further silverware to his cabinet should City defeat Chelsea in the Champions League final on 29th May in Portugal.

FootballCritic compiled the rankings based on its algorithm and placed the former Everton centre-back top of the pile.

Joining Stones in the top 10 was Dias at the No 9 spot, while Laporte finished 16th behind Manchester United skipper Harry Maguire and Brighton captain Lewis Dunk.

Posted below are the 50 best centre-backs in world football right now, according to FootballCritic.

50. Merih Demiral (Juventus)

49. Yunis Abdelhamid (Reims)

48. Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid)

47. Clement Lenglet (Barcelona)

46. Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig)

45. Stefan Savic (Atletico Madrid)

44. Liam Cooper (Leeds United)

43. Wesley Fofana (Leicester City)

42. Junior Alonso (Atletico Mineiro)

41. Sebastian Coates (Sporting CP)

40. John Brooks (Wolfsburg)

39. Victor Lindelof (Manchester United)

38. Eric Garcia (Manchester City)

37. Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham Hotspur)

36. Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain)

35. Aleksandar Dragovic (Bayer Leverkusen)

34. Simon Kjaer (AC Milan)

33. Guillermo Maripan (Monaco)

32. Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)

31. Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)

30. Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich)

29. Oscar Mingueza (Barcelona)

28. Jose Fonte (Lille)

27. Jules Kounde (Sevilla)

26. Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)

25. Niklas Sule (Bayern Munich)

24. Jonny Evans (Leicester City)

23. Joachim Andersen (Fulham)

22. Nacho Fernandez (Real Madrid)

21. Gerard Pique (Barcelona)

20. Stefan de Vrij (Inter Milan)

19. David Alaba (Bayern Munich)

18. Aissa Mandi (Real Betis)

17. Maxence Lacroix (Wolfsburg)

16. Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City)

15. Caglar Soyuncu (Leicester City)

14. Lewis Dunk (Brighton and Hove Albion)

13. Harry Maguire (Manchester United)

12. Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)

11. Eder Militao (Real Madrid)

10. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)

9. Ruben Dias (Manchester City)

8. Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)

7. Nico Elvedi (Borussia Monchengladbach)

6. Willi Orban (RB Leipzig)

5. Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)

4. Thiago Silva (Chelsea)

3. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

2. Edmond Tapsoba (Bayer Leverkusen)

1. John Stones (Manchester City)

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Sergio Ramos, Football, Kurt Zouma, Thiago Silva, Ruben Dias, Raphael Varane, John Stones

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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