Center-backs are defenders who play in the central defensive area of a football pitch. These are defenders primarily tasked with defending the goal with tough tackling, marking of players, heading, and clearances. Tackling, marking, heading, jumping, anticipation, strength, composure, and concentration are among the most important attributes for center-backs. They are the heart of any team’s defense in Football Manager 2024, just like in real-world footie. These are some of the great center-backs in Football Manager 2024 to sign to bolster the defense.
Looking for more Football Manager 2024 guides from KeenGamer?
- 6 Great Goalkeepers in Football Manager 2024
- 7 Great Wingers in Football Manager 2024
- 5 Great FM24 Players With Minimum Fee Release Clauses in Football Manager 2024
- How to Cheat in Football Manager 2024 With the FM24 Editor
- 9 Football Manager 2024 Tips for Beginners
Goncalo Inacio (Sporting Lisbon)
Inacio is a great young defender who excels in ball playing, wide center-back, and libero defensive roles. He’s fantastic in the air, with jumping and heading attribute ratings of 16 and 17. This player’s excellent concentration, marking, natural fitness, and passing are notable strengths of his game. Plus, this center-back has good strength, positioning, teamwork, vision, stamina, composure, and bravery attribute ratings. Goncalo’s only slight weakness is his relatively average tackling.
Goncalo Inacio
Inacio’s 33-41 million value will certainly increase because he’s a 22-year-old player. So, it’s best to sign Goncalo sooner rather than later. That is unless you can sign him with a free transfer when his contract has almost expired.
Ousmane Diomande (Sporting Lisbon)
Diomande is a defensive wonder kid who’s already a top-class center-back in Football Manager 2024 at 19. He’s a super fit and fast player with excellent strength, composure, and vision. This center-back is ideal for the ball-playing defender role, with a high passing attribute rating of 15. Ousmane’s tackling and marking attribute ratings of 15 and 14 are already good and will likely increase with time. His positioning isn’t bad at 13, but that’s something he could work on a little with defensive positioning training.
Ousmane Diomande
Ousmane isn’t a cheap player with a valuation in the 39-48 million range. His transfer value is still within the budgets of many top clubs from England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. You can feasibly sign him for 45-50 million, which is worth it for a great center-back who will get better and better.
Daniele Rugani (Juventus)
Rugani is a 29-year-old player who’s a very solid and reliable center-back to have in your squad. He’s an excellent team player with great aerial ability, natural fitness, and concentration attribute ratings of 16. Daniel also has decent attribute ratings of 14-15 for tackling, work rate, marking, pace, strength, and defensive positioning.
Daniele Rugani
The most eye-catching thing about Rugani is his low 210K-2.1 million transfer valuation, which makes him a great bargain. Although not as good as the likes of Dias and Saliba, Rugani is worth much more than 2.1 million. Furthermore, you can also sign him for free early in a game because his contract expires in 2024.
Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace)
Marc Guehi is a highly-valued 23-year-old defender who can potentially become one of the top center-backs in the world. He already is a great ball-playing defender with good 14-15 ratings for key defensive attributes like tackling, positioning, marking, heading, jumping reach, composure, anticipation, and strength. This defender makes for a great captain with a leadership attribute rating of 16 and he also has excellent natural fitness.
Marc Guehi
The 80-95 million transfer value for Guehi makes him expensive to sign. Newcastle Utd have struggled to sign Marc in real-world football, with Crystal Palace holding firm at a minimum 70 million valuation. So, expect more of the same in Football Manager 2024 if you try to sign him during your first season.
William Saliba (Arsenal)
Arsenal’s Saliba is one of the best center-backs in the Premier League, which is special considering he’s still about five to six years from peak playing age. His outstanding composure, teamwork, and anticipation attributes make him a great center-back in Football Manager 2024. He’s a very strong, super-fit defender who’s great in the air, with attribute ratings of 16 for strength, stamina, jumping reach, and heading. Saliba also has high attribute ratings of 14-16 for tacking, positioning, and marking.
William Saliba
This player’s 164-204 million transfer value makes him a center-back in Football Manager 2024 that only the elite clubs of Europe can hope to sign. If you’re managing one of the European giants from La Liga, Bundesliga, or Premier League, you should consider signing Saliba. Selling one or two players in a top-class team could be a good way to raise funds for signing Saliba.
Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Ruben Dias is the crème da la crème of center-backs in Football Manager 2024, widely hailed as one of the world’s best defenders by pundits and players alike. He has outstanding attribute ratings of 17-18 for tackling, positional play, marking, fitness, leadership, work rate, anticipation, and bravery. Ruben is also a player with great strength and aerial prowess for heading away corners, crosses, and free-kicks whipped into and around the penalty box.
Ruben Dias
Alas, the best defenders in the world aren’t cheap. If you can place a transfer bid that falls within his 215-236 million valuation, go for it! However, the best and easiest way to obtain this center-back in Football Manager 2024 is to start a new game at Manchester City.
You can build a formidable defense in your team by signing those great center-backs in Football Manager 2024. Having one or two of these players in your squad will probably make it somewhat harder to score against your team. So, snap them up when you can!
