The Tier Lists - Defender Edition - GDS Football

Welcome to the second of our positional tier lists for GDS’ Football platform. In these tier lists we’ll rank the GDS options suitable to build your lineups for the 2025/26 season. The second edition is on defenders.

The Defender Tier List

SUPERSTARS

In the superstar tier for defenders the key similarity between the majority is that they’re attacking fullbacks, which is to be expected given the GDS scoring system being favourable for things such as crosses, dribbles and tackles.

Four of the six superstars made their way into the top 25 for successful crosses (Porro [1st]. Robinson [=5th], Kerkez [13th] and Hall [21st]), while only three other defenders, who still remain in the Premier League, were also in the top 25.

Rayan Ait-Nouri (=6th) is the only of this tier’s players to feature in the top 25 for successful dribbles, A-it-Nouri being one of only two defenders to be in it.

Ait-Nouri and Munoz led the way for fullbacks in goals with four apiece, Kerkez and Porro had two each, while Hall and Robinson did not register one. While Robinson didn’t score, he finished 1st for defenders in assists (and equal 4th in the league) with 10, Ait-Nouri was next with 7, followed by Porro (6), Kerkez (5), Munoz (5) and Hall (4).

On the defensive side of the game, Robinson featured in the top 25 for successful tackles (=8th) and interceptions (2nd), Munoz featured in the same two categories (2nd & =14th), Kerkez was there for interceptions (=18th), Ait-Nouri was equal 11th for tackles, Porro was 25th for blocks, while Hall did not appear in any of those categories, albeit he only played 27 games after suffering a season ending injury.

The sole centreback in this tier, Nikola Milkenkovic, earns his spot after his huge impact across a number of the key statistical categories including his five goals (=1st for defenders) and two assists. Milenkovic was part of a Forest defence that kept 13 clean sheets (=2nd) as he chipped in with 213 clearances (=11th) and 95 aerial duel wins (=7th)

Robinson is the leading option in this tier, managing to impact the most in a combination of attacking and defensive statistical categories, however he does play for a team who only managed five clean sheets last season, which was the worst by a team who was not relegated. Ait-Nouri and Kerkez’ moves to teams who were in the top two for clean sheets last season makes them even more appealing, while Porro seems to be the worst of the tier unless he and Tottenham can fix their defensive failings.

BALLERS 

This tier is stacked with a variety of different types of defenders. Powerful centrebacks Burn, Zabarnyi, Tarkowski, Gvardiol, Guehi, Lacroix, Murillo, Collins and van Dijk would not all normally be prominent in your typically scored football fantasy games, however GDS’ scoring system, which includes interceptions, clearances, aerial duels, blocks and tackles lends itself to their gamestyles. Fullbacks Wan-Bissaka and Mitchell also feature in this tier.

Most of the tier were amongst the goals including Wan-Bissaka (2), Burn (1) ,Tarkowski (1), Gvardiol (5), Guehi (3), Lacroix (1), Murillo (2), Collins (2) and van Dijk (4), as  Zabarnyi and Mitchell were the only non-scorers. However, Mitchell made up for it with his five assists only matched by Wan-Bissaka. The other providers were Burn (1) ,Tarkowski (1), Guehi (2), Lacroix (1), Collins (3), van Dijk (1) and Zabarnyi (1).

This tier includes the leaders in the majority of the defensive scoring categories for GDS. It has the clearances leader, Murillo (also 2nd for blocks), the blocks leader, Collins (=2nd for aerial duels won and 3rd for clearances), first for interceptions in Wan-Bissaka (=21st in tackles), and aerial duel winner, Burn (7th for clearances). The others had their share of impressive stat lines, including Zabarnyi (19th in aerial duels, 14th for clearances and =21st for interceptions), Tarkowski (=7th for aerial duels, 5th in clearances, =24th for interceptions and 9th for blocks), Gvardiol (=16th for interceptions), Guehi (10th in blocks, 25th for aerial duels and 16th in clearances), Lacroix (15th in blocks, 9th for clearances and =5th for interceptions), van Dijk (=2nd for aerial duels, 8th for clearances and =5th in interceptions) and Mitchell (3rd for blocks and =14th for tackles).

Of the group only Wan-Bissaka appeared in the top 25 for the more offensive categories as he was equal 4th for successful dribbles.

There is very little between the superstar and ballers tiers as there are cases for every player to move between either tier. I’ve chosen to group these defenders as ballers mainly due to a situational aspect that doesn’t quite make them number one options. Whether that be Brentford’s loss of Flekken (the keeper with the most saves in the league last season), Wan-Bissaka’s late season role change, or Bournemouth’s sale of Dean Huijsen.

UNIQUES

There is quite a large pool of players in the unique tier with quite a few players that either had injury interrupted seasons, but have proved themselves in prior years and/or are a part of a great team defence. Due to this, we’ll simply highlight a few standout players who may find themselves as more than just a pick in a favourable fixture for your team.

Max Kilman played every game for West Ham in his first season after moving across from Wolves. In those 38 games, whilst Kilman’s team was 15th for clean sheets, he performed well individually on his way to 58 blocks (8th), 109 aerial duels won (5th), 244 clearances (4th) and one assist. A standout defender for the Hammers amongst what was a poor defensive season for the team.

Van den Berg was another who moved clubs leading into the season as he arrived at Brentford from Liverpool. He benefitted from GDS’ leading goalkeeper, Flekken, and his league leading saves made. While he did miss a period with injury he still managed to finish 11th for blocks, 13th for aerial duels won and 24th for clearances in his 31 matches played. With the return of several senior defenders to the team, van den Berg may run into job security issues, however his versatility also makes him an option at fullback.

Of the fullback options in this tier, Cucurella was the standout. Playing for top four Chelsea, who managed 11 clean sheets, Cucurella’s main impact was goal scoring as he found the net five times and assisted once in his 36 games. On the defensive side, Cucurella finished equal 14th for blocks.

RISING STARS

The rising star tier includes quite a lot of young players who are yet to fully establish themselves in the team. Unlikely to be consistent scorers this season, they’ll potentially be unplayable for now, but they are players you’ll want in your club. The majority of this list had exposure in the Premier League last season with the exception of the out on loan Vuskovic. In particular Kadioglu, Maatsen, Kayode and Lewis all look versatile enough to either be attackers in the future or play as attacking defenders.

NEWBIES

There are a range of different players in this tier, from returning veterans such as Kyle Walker, to attacking wingbacks in Jeremie Frimpong and replacement fullbacks in Adrien Truffert. They’ve shown the form possible to be GDS scorers at their new teams and are worth monitoring early in the season.

The player we’ll highlight is El Hadji Malick Diouf, West Ham’s new left midfielder/defender from Slavia Praha. Playing in a variety of roles for Praha, Diouf managed seven goals and two assists last season in his 27 matches. The other highlights for Diouf’s season included 18 shots on target, 130 total crosses, 22 interceptions and 21 fouls drawn. He’s likely to fill the left midfielder/wingback role in Graham Potter’s five at the back system, a role in which, on the right side, Wan-Bissaka had a late season surge of form.

That’s my tier list of defenders! A mix of opinion, stats and logic go into these tier lists. There’ll be differing opinions out there and other suitable stats I haven’t included, which could argue alternative rankings, however hopefully these lists help all GDS coaches of all experience levels build their teams on the new Football platform.