The best Premier League defenders ever? Getting it down to 20 was tough enough, let alone putting them in order....
(Image credit: Future)
The best Premier League defenders ever is an ever-changing debate.
The Premier League has been graced by plenty of global megastars over the past 32 years, but underpinning every great team have been those often-unsung heroes: the defenders.
The way centre-backs and full-backs play has changed since the Premier League kicked off in 1992, but there are some names that stand the test of time.
Whether they've providing leadership from the back, helping a team to league titles, enjoying remarkable longevity, or just being a brilliant defender, here's our list of the Premier League's 20 greatest-ever defenders.
Who would you have on your list?
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The 20 best Premier League defenders ever: 20. Lucas Radebe (Leeds United)
Lucas Radebe is a Leeds United icon
A goalkeeper until he was 20, Radebe made the switch to Leeds United from South African Kaizer Chiefs in 1994 and initially struggled to nail down a regular place at Elland Road due to injuries and clashes with then-manager Howard Wilkinson.
The gaffer's departure in 1996 and a better spell of fitness allowed Radebe to establish himself in the Leeds side, however. After being appointed captain he led Leeds to four straight top four finishes and a Champions League semi-final, with Radebe's performance attracting interest from across Europe - including arch-rivals Manchester United.
Leeds' decline thereafter was down to much more than just Radebe missing two years with a serious injury, but it certainly didn't help, and he was never quite the same after. There's now a suite named after him at Elland Road.
19. Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea)
Ricardo Carvalho was a rock for Chelsea (Image credit: Alamy)
One of Chelsea's most important signings of the early Roman Abramovich era, Carvalho followed Jose Mourinho from Porto to Stamford Bridge in 2004 and immediately formed an outstanding partnership with John Terry.
Chelsea's record of 24 clean sheets and just 15 goals conceded in Carvalho's first season at the club still stands 20 years later. In the Portuguese's six seasons at the club, they conceded just 143 goals in 228 games.
Despite not being the most physical defender in the league - by his own admission - Carvalho's reading of the game was outstanding, and he had no shortage of ability on the ball either. The only thing keeping him from a higher ranking is his injury record, which meant we only saw him for 135 Premier League games.
18. John Stones (Everton, Manchester City)
John Stones has been a central figure in Manchester City's successes
The archetype of what clubs want from a modern centre-back, Stones offers everything: solid off the ball and classy on it, to the point that Pep Guardiola has moved him into midfield plenty of times in recent years.
Stones helped Everton to enjoy their best-ever Premier League season as they finished fifth with 72 points in his first full season at the club (2013/14) after joining from Barnsley, and it was immediately apparently he was destined for a career at the very top.
That's what he's had at Manchester City over the past eight years, becoming one of Guardiola's most trusted players in spite of constant injury niggles that have caused him to miss roughly half of City's games over that time.
17. Jaap Stam (Manchester United)
Jaap Stam left Manchester United too soon
Is he better than some of the players ranking higher on this list? Yes, undoubtedly. Unfortunately, we only got two and a half seasons of the giant Dutchman in English football - but what a two and a half years.
Signed from PSV in 1998, Stam was the final piece in the puzzle that took United from being an excellent side to being an all-conquering treble-winning outfit, earning multiple individual awards to put alongside his winners' medals.
United surprisingly sold Stam in 2001, with Ferguson feeling the centre-back had lost some of his indomitable quality after recovering from an ACL injury and bizarrely telling him of the decision to sell him to Lazio in a petrol station forecourt. The Scot later admitted he got it badly wrong: Stam remained a top defender abroad for another six years, while his replacement Laurent Blanc turned out to be a bit cack.
16. Paul McGrath (Aston Villa, Derby County)
Paul McGrath shone for Aston Villa (Image credit: Alamy)
There are those who will tell you Paul McGrath was past his best by the time the Premier League began: he was turned 33 in the first season of the new league, and his well-documented personal problems were increasingly affecting him off the pitch.
Aston Villa and Ireland fans will tell you those people are dead wrong - as does McGrath being named the PFA Players' Player of the Year in the division's inaugural campaign.
A colossus of a defender and a leader on the pitch, McGrath helped Villa to finish second in that campaign as well as helping them to two League Cup victories in 1994 and 1996. If more of his career had fallen in the Premier League era, he'd probably be much much higher on this list.
15. Patrice Evra (Manchester United, West Ham United)
Patrice Evra was superb for Manchester United
A strange man, but an excellent left-back. Signed from Monaco in 2006, Evra initially struggled to get into the first team regularly - but after making the breakthrough, he proved to be excellent, and rarely dislodged from the last of Sir Alex Ferguson's last great Manchester United sides.
Evra claimed surprisingly few assists for an attack-minded full-back, but then, that wasn't really his job; not when United at one point had an array of forward talents that included Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov.
The Frenchman's performances struck a great balance between endeavour and responsibility, and he was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year on three occasions.
14. Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
Jamie Carragher had a long and successful career at Liverpool
One of Chelsea's most important signings of the early Roman Abramovich era, Carvalho followed Jose Mourinho from Porto to Stamford Bridge in 2004 and immediately formed an outstanding partnership with John Terry.
Chelsea's record of 24 clean sheets and just 15 goals conceded in Carvalho's first season at the club still stands 20 years later. In the Portuguese's six seasons at the club, they conceded just 143 goals in 228 games.
The only thing
13. Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur)
Ledley King had injury issues but was brilliant when he played (Image credit: Getty Images)
A Tottenham player throughout his career, King suffered knee from a complete absence of knee cartilage that infamously meant he was rarely able to train with the rest of the squad.
There's a touch of hypocrisy here, perhaps, to hold Stones' and Carvalho's injury records against them but then place King above them - but when he was fit (and he played more games than you might think), King could be peerless.
It's no coincidence that King's pomp coincided with Spurs rising from constant mid-tablers to establishing themselves as near-constant top four challengers. The centre-back captained Spurs to win two League Cups and qualify for the Champions League for the first time.
12. Sami Hyypia (Liverpool)
Sami Hyypia was one of the Premier League's greatest ever bargain buys
Liverpool had a horrendous track record for signing centre-backs when Hyypia arrived in 1999 from Dutch side Willem II for just £2.6m, which was not a huge amount of money even back then.
That may well have set expectations low, but Hyypia immediately proved to be the real deal. The 6'4" Finn was an absolute rock for ten years at Anfield, first alongside Stephane Henchoz and then in that famous partnership with Carragher, and wore the captain's armband until gladly surrendering it to Steven Gerrard in 2003.
Hyypia played a key role in their treble triumph of 2001 and their Champions League win of 2005, and a slightly lesser role in their first genuinely sustained title challenge in a generation in 2008/09...and his knack for scoring important goals from set pieces didn't hurt his standing at all, either.
11. Gary Pallister (Manchester United, Middlesbrough)
Gary Pallister was instrumental for Manchester United in the early days of the Premier League (Image credit: Getty Images)
The man Stam was expensively signed to replace, Pallister was a hugely important part of the phenomenally successful Manchester United side of the early-to-mid 1990s: when he left in 1998, he was the only player to have played a part in every trophy the manager had lifted with the club to that point.
Pallister was named in the PFA team of the year in four of the Premier League's first six years of existence, and formed a brilliant partnership with Steve Bruce, who can consider himself extremely unlucky not to make this list (we had him 21st).
Bruce was far more prolific in front of goal, but Pallister had an uncanny ability for scoring goals of his own when they most counted, including bagging braces at Anfield on two separate occasions.
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Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
