We’ve got 5 nominees for the right back slot in our ultimate team, and with your help there’s some kind words about each of them below to assist you in making a decision
Gary Neville (3rd, 22%)
Before Gary Neville was a Sky Pundit, he was actually a very good right back. Aided by an excellent Euro 96, by the time 97/98 rolled around Beckham’s best mate was one of the first name on the Man Utd team sheet. Starts the game relatively young and goes on to get plenty of England caps – indeed he bowed out with 100 caps on the blog game. Not bad as an emergency centre half too
Christian Panucci (2nd, 24%)
Panucci is another one who starts at a great team, in this case Real Madrid, and sustains that level for many years. Panucci’s all round greatness is summed up nicely by @_markreynolds
“Great going forward as well as at the back – fantastic as a wing back. Scored lots of goals from corners as well with his heading ability”
Dario Simic
Perhaps a lesser known name than the previous two, fans of the game will know Dario Simic. Firstly, as a defender RLC, he’s a great utility man to have around. Secondly, he’s at FC Croatia (Croatia Zagreb to you and me) so enticing him to your club is not much of a problem. Finally, for the real nerds amongst us, he has a negative potential ability if you’re into your data editing, which basically means given the right nurturing you’ve got a star on your hands. Ker-ching.
Omari Tetradze
What can you say about Omari Tetradze that hasn’t been said already? Well, according to wikipedia, he was arguably the best right back at Euro 96, where he represented Russia. He could be picked up for relative peanuts in the game, as @fishmanmart will testify:
“Always worth having in your squad as he could play right side of defence or midfield and also centrally in both positions as well. If he was contracted to Roma, 75k would secure him, and he’d always come.”
Javier Zanetti (1st, 41%)
A true legend of the game, back in 97/98 Zanetti was a spritely 36 year old. I joke of course, he was in his early 20’s and rivalling the ageing Guiseppe Bergomi for the right back slot at Inter. In game, there was no competition, and Zanetti’s flexibility is a right sided midfielder made him an ideal candidate for a right wing back slot. The only drawback for Zanetti was his status as an “FGN” of which you could have only 3 in your matchday squad, and because I was young and reckless I often favoured the ridiculous attacking talent at Inter’s disposal of Javier, but then it was Ronaldo, Kanu, Recoba and Simeone, so you can forgive me, right? Anyway, in summary, Zanetti was mint and durable, you can’t say fairer than that.