Throughout my time watching and writing about French football, few players have given me as much joy as Nice’s left centre-back, Dante (188cm/6’2”, 89kg/196lbs).
At 39 years of age, the former Bayern Munich man, who won three Bundesliga titles and the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League during his time with the Bavarian giants, is still as important to Nice’s gameplan, strategy and tactics on the pitch as he was at the beginning of his time in Alpes-Maritimes back in 2016.
However, it appears as though the Brazilian is set to hang up his boots and take up a position on Nice’s technical staff at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, meaning Les Aiglons are now tasked with replacing the key centre-back.
Nice signed Youssouf Ndayishimiye from Turkish Super Lig side İstanbul Başakşehir in January and perhaps the Burundi international is lined up as a Dante replacement.
However, Ndayishimiye brings a lot of different qualities to the table than Dante in terms of his playing style, is a right-footer and has primarily played on the right since joining Nice alongside Dante.
This doesn’t mean he’s not Dante’s replacement, Nice could be lining up a change in approach after Dante leaves the playing squad and view Ndayishimiye as the perfect replacement to instigate that change.
But even with Ndayishimiye in the squad, Les Aiglons could do with an extra centre-back when removing Dante from their squad.
Their other senior options in the squad at present are Ndayishimiye, of course, Jean-Clair Todibo and Mattia Viti.
So, we’ve decided to take a look at some other potential options Nice could consider for the left centre-back position following Dante’s departure, scouring some of Europe’s top leagues in order to find young talent with the right profile to suit Dante’s role within Nice’s squad.
We stop off in Greece, Spain and Ukraine in this analysis and scout report profiling three potential options for OGC Nice, or another team of similar stature searching for a player similar in profile to Dante, this summer.
What’s Dante’s playing style and role?
Firstly, what about Dante himself?
What’s his typical playing style and role?
Dante
