- Given the recent scarcity of world class central defenders throughout global soccer, top European clubs are scouring the globe in search of diamonds in the rough, which they hope to nurture into the finished article
- The end of season "top tacklers" and "best in the air" charts from BSports below highlight two player investments that'll be interesting to watch over the coming years; That of Inter Milan in Juan Jesus and that of Chelsea in Kurt Zuma
- Inter Milan recruited Juan Jesus from Internacional in the 2012 January transfer window while Chelsea reportedly splashed out about 15M Euros for Zuma's services prior to loaning him back to Saint-Etienne in January 2014
- After a difficult start at Inter, Juan Jesus has seemingly started to settle down and looks set to fulfill the potential his club saw in him. With John Terry close to the end of his career, and the recent sale of David Luiz to PSG, Chelsea is looking to Zuma to be a key figure at the back for years to come
- Both players will be disappointed not to be at the 2014 World Cup, but they have every chance of representing their respective national teams at major tournaments in the future
- Juan Jesus finished the season 3rd in the "top tacklers" category with 4.32 tackles per game and a tackle win percentage of 83.2%, while Kurt Zuma finished the season 3rd in the "best in the air" category with 2.76 aerial duels won per game and an aerial dual win percentage of 77.6% (See BSports charts below)
- Juan Jesus (22 year old Brazil International) is currently valued at 12M Euros by transfermarkt.com, while Kurt Zuma (20 year old French Youth International) is currently valued at 10M Euros by the same website
Prolific Defender Leaderboards from BSports (Updated through end of 2013/2014 season)
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