We are clearly after a hybrid player, this man would be my choice....

It is obvious we are trying to recruit a Left Back who can play Centre Back or vice versa

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gents,

We are clearly trying to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and sign a hybrid full back/centre back and it makes a lot of sense, somebody who is comfortable defending in wide areas and also defending inside whilst being comfortable on the ball in all areas.

My guess would be this player will start the game as a ‘left back’ but in possession be more of a left centre back in a 3 with lets say Levi Colwill in the middle and Wesley Fofana to the right, allowing either James or Gusto to push up the field or invert into midfield to give the forward players more freedom.

There is lots of talk about Riccardo Calafiori but for me I see him going to a UCL club, if we can get him then we must (he is excellent) but it feels a little unrealistic to me right now.

So who are the alternatives?

I am a big fan of Castello Lukeba who is 6ft1in very quick and extremely good on the ball boasting some very impressive passing and possession figures. He defends well against dribblers and playing as a wide centre back that is one of the most important defensive traits he needs, he is only 21 and has a lot of room for improvement which puts me off him slightly but these passing figures are excellent.

Another player I really like but it could be extremely difficult to tempt him to leave is Piero Hincapié who plays for Bayer Leverkeusen, he is also 6ft1in and has been used in an extremely similar role to the one we require for the majority of his time at Leverkeusen. He is 22 years old and also boasts some INCREDIBLE figures.

I also really like Mathias Olivera from Napoli who is more of an inverted fullback, he is aggressive, really good passer of the ball and has an attacking flair about him if required. His defence numbers for a fairly attacking full back are really good whilst his passing stats are brilliant, he also passes the eye test for me.

I am a HUGE fan of German international Nico Schlotterbeck and it could be completely unrealistic but he could take our team to another level. He is 6ft3in and brilliant in all aspects of the game. He is aerially dominant, brilliant on the ball and strong, just look at these all round stats which show you how well rounded he is. He features in the top 10% of Centre Backs in European football for pretty much every defending and passing stat as well as things like touches, progressive carries etc etc

Does anyone have any other suggestions for this hybrid role? There are some excellent players out there some of whom may be difficult to attract with no UCL, the likes of Calafiori and Nathan Ake would be perfect, without injuries Lucas Hernandez would have been great.

Let me know what you all think.

Thanks for reading.

Luke Rushbrook