WITH expensive players such as Kylian Mbappe (£7.5m), Harry Kane (£7.5m) and Jude Bellingham (£6m) among the most popular in Dream Team Euros, plenty of managers will be on the hunt for a cheap defender to balance the books.
Here we’ve assembled five candidates who might just be capable of bringing your XI together nicely.
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Milos Kerkez (£2.5m)
Hungary are among the teams being touted as potential dark horses and so their 20-year-old left-back could be viewed as good value.
Marco Rossi’s side went unbeaten in qualifying by keeping it relatively tight at the back and they performed very well against Italy, Germany and England in the most recent Nations League – remember their 4-0 win at Wembley?
Kerkez turned a few heads this season as one of several spirited performers for a Bournemouth side who punched above their weight for most of the Premier League campaign.
The exuberant defender gets through his fair share of tackles and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he returned a clean sheet against Switzerland in Matchday 1 – the Swiss aren’t all that hopeful of a strong showing this summer.
Hungary and RB Leipzig centre-back Willi Orban (£2.5m) is available for the same price.
Radu Dragusin (£2m)
The Tottenham centre-back is one of Romania’s most-known players and a key contributor to his side’s qualification.
Anghel Iordanescu’s troops conceded just five goals in ten fixtures to book their place in Germany and they head into the tournament having drawn their last two friendlies 0-0.
Goals are a concern but their defence has generally held up well in the last 18 months.
Romania take on Ukraine in Matchday 1 which has to be considered a potential clean sheet for Dragusin and his team-mates.
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£2.5m) and company are a decent side but it’s worth noting that out of all 24 teams present at the tournament, only Poland scored fewer goals than Ukraine in qualifying.
If you want to save even more cash then opt for Andrei Burca (£1.5m) instead.
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Marc Guehi (£3m)
You may not consider £3m an outright bargain but if the Crystal Palace defender starts for England in the absence of Harry Maguire then he surely has be considered extremely affordable.
It’s rare to find a starter among the top teams available at such a reasonable price and such opportunities are hard to resist.
Whereas other names on this list are tailored to Matchday 1, Guehi is potentially a long-term selection who could provide returns in the knockout stages if all goes smoothly for the Three Lions.
It’s not inconceivable that Gareth Southgate will back Lewis Dunk (£3m), Ezri Konsa (£3m) or Joe Gomez (£3.5m) instead but at this stage Guehi seems to be atop the pecking order.
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Wout Faes (£3m)
Much of the same logic applies here as the mop-haired 26-year-old is essentially a lock at centre-back for Belgium.
Faes started all eight games of the Red Devils’ relatively comfortable qualifying campaign and gaffers who prefer a fixture-first approach should consider him a viable option for the group stage.
Belgium will be hopeful of clean sheets against Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine in Group E.
Some may be concerned that Faes spent the domestic season with Leicester in the Championship but since that campaign proved to be a successful one, it’s probably nothing to worry about..
There are question marks over Belgium’s capacity to keep out stronger teams but they should negotiate their group without too much bother.
Mykola Matvienko (£2m)
We mentioned earlier that Romania might be able to bag a clean sheet against Ukraine in Matchday 1 but the reverse is also true – Score Predictor users should consider the possibility of a 0-0.
Ukraine have registered goalless draws against Germany and Italy in the last six months and so their defence will feel confident of resisting a Romania side that are solid but lack firepower.
Matvienko was previously linked to Brighton, a club with a good reputation for talent recognition in recent times, and he’s a fraction cheaper than the other defenders expected to start for Serhiy Rebrov’s side.
Ukraine will then take on Slovakia in Matchday 2, another clean sheet opportunity, but you’ll probably want to stay clear of their defenders in Matchday 3 for their meeting with Belgium.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
