4 footballers who successfully played as both centre-back and defensive midfielder at the top level

2. Marcel Desailly

Marcel Desailly

Desailly is one of the greatest defensive players the game has ever seen, and he too played in both positions.

He started his career as a DM for Nantes and Olympique Marseille, and became a better player while playing in the glorious AC Milan teams under Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello.

Desailly won one Champions League and one Serie A title for Milan in the five seasons he spent with them. He had also won one Champions League title with Marseille before that. He then moved to Chelsea and played as a centre-back for them for six seasons.

Desailly was a brilliant tackler and very strong in the air, and those traits made him a great defender. He was also very strong physically and never shied away from one-to-one challenges.

He won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with the great French national team while playing as a centre-back. He won 116 caps for France in total.

Both the Milan side of the early 90s and the French national team of the late 90s were superb defensively, and Desailly was an intrinsic part of both. He also played in more than 600 club matches through his career.