Sergio Ramos
Having played as a right-back for a long part of his career, Sergio Ramos has huge confidence with the ball, and he is without doubt one of the best ball playing centre-backs in the world.
At 6 foot tall, he is not a typical tall centre-half who looks uncomfortable on the ball, and this shows as he is extremely confident with the ball.As the Spaniard has grown older, he has become more mature and became a better defender along the way, but he has not lost any ability to pass or carry the ball. Ramos could comfortably play in defensive midfield, and his passing and dribbling ability show this.
Moreover, Ramos made more total and forward passes than Raphael Varane, Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano last season in La Liga with an 89% success rate, further emphasising how good he is at passing and just how confident he is on the ball.
Sergio Ramos has to feature on this list, as his statistics and the way he plays prove he is a very good ball playing centre-back.
Gerard Pique
Ever since his move from Manchester United to Barcelona, Pique has continued to get better year after year and the Spaniard had to be a part of this list, he could not be left out.
Despite being nearly 6ft 5, he moves elegantly and uniquely with the ball, showing no signs of vulnerability on the ball. To play for Barcelona, any player needs to be good with the ball, but the fact he has played an integral role for so many years illustrates how excellent he is.He has played in and won three different Champions League finals in 2009, 2011 and 2015 and is one of only 7 players who were part of two treble winning teams at Barcelona. This firstly illustrates how much faith Barcelona managers have put in Pique, and how good his technical ability must be for him to have stayed part of the Barcelona defence for all this time.
Pique is easily one of the greatest ball playing centre-backs ever.
Leonardo Bonucci
Leonardo Bonucci is one of the most underrated ball playing centre-backs around. The Italian’s long range passing is arguably the best in Europe and it was so important to Juventus’ huge success last season.
In addition to his ability to switch play, he has a range of passing. But the fact that he attempts many long-range passes and his pass success rate in Serie A was 87% last season is a testament to how good his passing is.The Italian is very classy and has a lot of confidence with the ball at his feet. Alongside Giorgio Chiellini, the two defenders have established a very strong defensive partnership. However, many people fail to recognise how comfortable the two, mainly Bonucci, are with the ball at their feet.
Additionally, Bonucci has a pretty high percentage in successful take ons at 66.67%, a commendable percentage for a centre-back. It is certainly no surprise that coinciding with Juventus’s success in Europe has been the huge improvements by Bonucci with the ball, and he is now one of the best ball playing centre backs in the world.