Top club at €415 million 

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“Attack wins you games, but defence wins you titles.” That was the famous quote by legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman was perfectly qualified to give his assessment. Several iconic managers have earned fearsome reputations for building resolute backlines, including José Mourinho and Diego Simeone across recent years.

Mourinho’s Chelsea famously only conceded 15 goals as they won the English Premier League during the 2004/05 season and Simeone has led Atlético Madrid to two Champions League finals. Currently, Arsenal are widely regarded as the best defensive side in the world with Mikel Arteta hoping their biggest strength can help them in their quest to win major silverware. Using Transfermarkt’s market values, we’ve analysed which clubs currently have the most valuable collection of defenders at their disposal.

Which club has the most valuable collection of defenders?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Arsenal have the most valuable collection of defenders. The North London side currently have eight senior defenders in their first-team squad with a combined market value of €415 million. William Saliba is Arsenal’s most valuable defender at €80m with all eight of their defenders possessing a market value of at least €30m. As the graphic below illustrates, PSG rank second with their eight defenders totalling €343m with Achraf Hakimi their most valuable at €80m.

Chelsea are renowned for carrying a large squad and they have the most defenders (11) of any club in the top ten. Enzo Maresca’s men rank third with Real Madrid and Manchester City completing the top five. Every top five league is represented in the top ten clubs with the most valuable defenders with Bayern Munich the top Bundesliga club in eighth and Inter Milan leading the way for Serie A in ninth.