Gianluca Vialli once suggested the right back is usually the worst player on any team: any better going forward and he’d be a winger, any better defensively and he’d be a centre back.



Jamie Carragher has a similar theory. “No-one grows up wanting to be a full back,” he said a few years ago, a statement that was only around 50 percent a dig at Gary Neville.



Jose Mourinho once explained why he loved Paulo Ferreira, his right back with both Porto and Chelsea. “He’s a player who will never be man of the match, but will always score seven out of 10,” Mourinho explained. That’s the right back, Mr Seven out of 10 — surely the least glamorous position in the side.



The right back doesn’t even have the exotic feel of the left back, who tends to be a more creative player forced into defence at some point in his development because of a shortage of left-footers . You associate a left back with constant...