Best Defenders to pick in EURO 2024 Fantasy

Also, let’s dive into some criteria when picking the best defenders for your EURO fantasy squad. When selecting a defender into your team you should consider:

• Whether a defender that you pick has a good chance of a clean sheet. Our EURO Fantasy Clean Sheet Odds will help you with that. This is the most important criterium you should consider, as clean sheets are the most important source of fantasy points for defenders.
• Whether a defender has attacking potential: Can he score goals after free kicks and corners? Does he play in an advanced position so he could register a few assists? Is he playing OOP – Out of position? For example, some players might be classified as defenders in the EURO Fantasy game, but in reality, they might play in the midfield
• Balls recovered potential. Centre-backs usually recover more balls than full-backs which makes them more appealing from this point of view.
• Have 5 playing defenders in your team. Due to the substitutions, the formation of your team does not matter, so if some of your defenders fail to deliver, you can replace him with another player who is yet to play (respecting formation constraints).

Budget defenders (4m – 4.5m)

Wout Faes (4m, Belgium) – 7/10

• one of the best 4m defenders to own
• good group for clean sheets for Belgium, all three fixtures have clean sheet potential
• started all 8 games for Belgium in the Qualifiers, so he should be a regular starter

Mittelstadt (4m, Germany) – 7.5/10

• another absolute bargain for our fantasy teams
• Germany always plays on the first day of Matchday, so if he do not deliver, you will sub him out
• also offers attacking threat with 2G + 4A for Stuttgart this season in Bundesliga

Tah (4.5m, Germany) – 5/10

• budget enabler in Germany defence
• Germany has good group – all fixtures have clean sheet potential
• a cornerstone in Bayer Leverkusen’s defense in recent years
• 4G + 1A this season in Bundelsiga

Schar (4.5m, Switzerland) – 4.5/10

• could be an option for MD1 and MD2 (against Hungary and Scotland)
• So an option for managers who would use limitless in MD3 and transfer him out in the tough fixture against Germany
• solid season for Newcastle with 4G + 1A

Hancko (4.5m, Slovakia) – 5/10

• key man for Slovakia in Qualifiers with 2G + 3A
• an option mainly for MD2 and MD3
• 7G + 2A for Feyenoord this season in all competitions
• Slovakia with 5 clean sheets in 10 games in Qualifiers

Guehi (4.5m, England) – 5/10

• with Maguire not in the nomination, seems that Guedi could be a starting centre-back for England at EUROs

Mid priced defenders (5m)

John Stones (5m, England) – 5/10

• England have group with good clean sheet potential
• offer attacking threat after set pieces
• Unfortunately injury prone and could be rotated in MD3 (if the number 1 spot in the group is secured by then)

Dimarco (5m, Italy) – 8/10

• perfect opening fixture against Albania in MD1, but then tough matches
• if you are building your team solely for Matchday 1, you should definitely consider him
• on some set pieces
• very good season for Inter with 5G + 6A in Seria A

Akanji (5m, Switzerland) – 7/10

• similar to Schar – good fixtures for MD1 and MD2
• very good at balls recovered – most balls recovered in Qualifiers of all qualified teams
• 75 balls recovered in 10 qualifying matches – 7.5 per game
• If you will use limitless in MD3, you should consider Akanji for MD1 and MD2

Kounde (5m, France) – 3/10

• cheap route into France defence
• unfortunately he is not recovering so many balls for his nation as we saw him doing on club level in Champions League

Premium defenders (5.5m – 6m)

Frimpong (5.5m, Netherlands) – 5/10

• excellent form in the Bundesliga this season with 9G + 7A in 31 games – outstanding
• already with 1G + 1A for the Netherlands in a friendly against Canada – where he played in the front 3
• unfortunately, it remains to be seen whether he will be a regular starter for the Netherlands or not

Alexander Arnold (5.5m, England) – 4/10

• another not 100% starter, although we think he gets 2 starts for England in the group stage
• if he plays for England, it is likely going to be OOP in the midfield
• offers attacking threat

Gvardiol (5.5m, Croatia) – 3.5/10

• outstanding finish of a season for Manchester City
• good at balls recovered
• but tough fixtures for Croatia, especially in MD1 and MD3

Maehle (5.5m, Denmark) – 5/10

• nice differential in MD1 fixture against Slovenia
• we know from last EUROs how attacking he can be
• 2G + 1A in Qualifiers for Denmark

Van Dijk (6m, Netherlands) – 6/10

• can be an absolute beast when it comes to balls recovered – he showed it in Champions League 3 seasons ago where he was recovering around 9 balls per game on average
• but for Netherlands he recovered 50 balls in 8 matches – 6.25 per game which is also solid
• great threat after set pieces