Goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders—every position matters. So why are only attacking players considered GOATs?
Written by Yusif Babayev
Why is it that Luka Modrić’s name is rarely brought up when we talk about the greatest players of all time? He’s often left out of the GOAT discussion. When we say “this is the best footballer in the world”, are we truly expressing our own opinion, or are we simply parroting a view that’s been imposed upon us? Can a goalkeeper be the GOAT, or is that position considered unimportant in football? If you think it’s unimportant, go and have a chat with Manchester United fans — they’ll explain to you just how crucial it is.
Let’s set goalkeepers aside for a moment — what about defenders? Can they not be GOATs? Why is it that defenders, who often stop those called natural talents, artists, and legends in attack, are completely absent from the GOAT debate?
As children, when we played football on the streets, we always put our friends with poor ball skills either in goal or told them to play at the back. Perhaps that’s why we’ve developed this idea that those positions are unimportant, but that’s simply not the case in professional football.
Every position is vital, and every coach knows this very well. But do the media and the organisations that hand out awards know that? I doubt it. How many times has the Ballon d’Or, one of the most prestigious individual awards for a footballer, been given to a defender, a goalkeeper, or a midfielder, and how many times has it gone to a forward?
Ah, the Ballon d’Or. The annual comedy show where the people in charge try to convince us they know something about football. Seriously, since 2010, the whole thing’s been a joke. Thank goodness they didn’t hand the 2007 award to Messi instead of Kaká; at least that one decision showed a flicker of sanity.
This year, I thought Messi would win it, since he’s developing football in the USA after all, but they didn’t give it to him. They gave it to Dembélé instead. What has Dembélé done? A treble with PSG. I think this season was an injustice; Messi deserved it and should have been given the award. In fact, they should give him one more after this year to take his Ballon d’Or tally to 10, his iconic shirt number. I think they at least owe him that much.
Now that I’ve written about Messi, it would be wrong not to mention Ronaldo. He too has received Ballon d’Or unfairly. Sometimes CR7 fans argue that in 2018 it should have gone to him, not Modrić — that Ronaldo scored more goals. And yes, when I hear that, I get just as annoyed as Messi fans reading this piece.
Luka Modrić is 40 years old. He’s not in the Saudi Pro League, not in China, not in Japan, not even in MLS where football is called “soccer”. At 40, he’s still competing in one of the world’s top five leagues, Serie A, with the legendary AC Milan. And he’s not there to sit on the bench — he’s there to make a difference, to fight for titles, even at 40.
At the 2018 World Cup, Croatia lost the final and finished as runners-up. They weren’t considered favourites at the start of the tournament. In the 2022 World Cup, the squad was older, yet they still made it to the semi-finals. When I spoke with my friends, I was saying Croatia would reach the final, while they’re saying that they’d be knocked out in the group stage. Neither of us was right — they finished third in that tournament. Overall, this too was an unexpected outcome.
Now the 2026 World Cup is approaching, and the Croatian national team is undergoing a generational change. It’s not yet known if they’ll even qualify, but let’s imagine they do, and Modrić’s Croatia once again pull off the unexpected and becomes World Champions this time. Will Luka Modrić be remembered as the GOAT then? I doubt it. Because people who don’t really understand football would just say: “Modrić didn’t score as many goals as Messi or Ronaldo.” The media won’t market Modrić as the GOAT as they did with other players.
It’s true, Modrić hasn’t scored as many goals as Messi or Ronaldo. But must the greatest player only be the one who scores the most goals? Is this game nothing more than dribbling from midfield to the box and scoring or tapping into an empty net? Goals are important, but victory isn’t brought about solely by a striker’s goal or goals.
Sometimes a team scores a scrappy goal and then faces 7 or 8 dangerous scoring chances for the rest of the match, all of which are saved by the goalkeeper. Again — go and ask Manchester United fans. David de Gea has saved them countless times.
Sometimes it’s the back four are the ones who secure victory. And sometimes, it’s the midfielder, the brain of the team, takes centre stage, helping the striker score so many goals. And in some cases, they score a lot of goals themselves, for example, Ricardo Kaká, one of the most underrated players in football history. What a player he was. If I started writing about the football he played during his time at Milan, the article would never end.
In short, every position—goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and forward—is important. We cannot choose the greatest footballer of all time, because you simply can’t compare players across positions. In fact, I don’t think naming a single “greatest player of all time” is the right approach at all. Arsène Wenger himself said this as well. Football is a team sport, and it makes more sense to choose the greatest team in history. It doesn’t matter if you pick from existing teams or create a starting eleven from scratch; Luka Modrić, who has won the Champions League six times, will be in it.