So, when I saw this card and the incredibly low price to complete him (65k or so at the time) I knew that this man had to be put into my club. I was a little wary at first because of his incredibly difficult links, and changing my team halfway through WL is always risky, but I went for it anyway. And folks, let me tell you, this man is insane.
I played him in 15 WL games (a WL in which I finished Silver 1 after being screwed by so many irl and in-game events that I contemplated ripping my hair out) and two rivals games, and believe me when I say that he was probably the best player in my team. I played him with a SHADOW chemistry style to boost his defending and pace as his physical stats are already elite tier.
PACE: 9/10
As you can probably already tell by his card stats, he was rapid. He had no problem catching up to WL favourites like Rashford, Son and Martial with a SHADOW applied and overall played extremely well.
SHOOTING: 5/10
I couldn't give him any higher or lower than this because he's a bloody centre back, if you're pinging shots with your centre halves you're playing the game wrong. What I can say though is that, despite not scoring, he was always a threat from corners with his 88 jumping and 6'0" height.
PASSING: 7/10
Let me preface this by saying that I am somebody who exclusively passes out from the back in FIFA. I know it is not perhaps the most "meta" way of doing things, but that's how things are done in the DilliamNye household. His passing was good for a centre back, with 80 short passing and 74 long passing being good enough for a central defender in this stage of the game and 76 composure meaning he didn't poo his pants every time he was put under any form of pressure. He isn't exactly prime Koeman, but he'll definitely do the job.
DRIBBLING: 6/10
Again, if you are going full Kurt Zouma vs Ajax with your defenders, you aren't playing the game correctly. However, I didn't notice any particular deficiencies in his dribbling when it was tested, unlike a good few centre backs I've tried in this FIFA.
DEFENDING: 9/10
Now we are getting into the good stuff. His defending is absolutely incredible, as you could probably guess with a simple 5 second glance at some of his stats. 87 interceptions, 85 standing tackle and 86 sliding tackle (97, 95 and 99 respectively with SHADOW applied) make him a real game-changing defender at times. His AI blocking, while not as OP as someone like Varane, is very very good and probably won me a LOT of games. He is just very very solid at the back.
PHYSICALITY: 10/10
This man is the definition of a gigachad. He is so, so strong (with a base 90 strength) and bullies so many wingers and strikers with that alone. Alongside this, his aforementioned 88 jumping makes him a beast in aerial situations and his 86 aggression helps a lot with this. His stamina is really great for a centre back, meaning he will last a full 120 mins + pens every single game for you without fail.
Now, we get into the more subjective ratings:
LINKS: 3/10
This is the reason why he is so cheap. His links are, simply put, pretty mediocre. There are three routes you can go down here: Link him to IF Lopes (who, by the way, was really good for me in the 17 games I played him in), link him to Depay, or have a full Ligue 1 squad. I chose to link him to Lopes as Depay does not really have any amazing links except Frenkie, but I didn't really fancy using Griezmann in this team so that went out of the window pretty fast. He has some nice orange links to De Bruyne, as well as Nainggolan, Mertens and RB Lukaku who are all good options for a decent Serie A link.
VALUE FOR MONEY: 10/10
He's a great, meta centre back for a really decent price, and will be usable for a fairly large portion of the game if you so please - and can put up with linking him into teams. Two 84 rated squads is a really nice medium for him - not too cheap to where he will be used by everyone, but still a very fair price if you are looking for a centre back at a budget price. I did him for around 30k with some useless untradeables.
And finally,
OVERALL: 8/10
Literally the only two things bringing him down are his links, and something I did not mention previously - his workrates. While they aren't the end of the world, his medium attacking WR means that he is occasionally caught out of position on quick counter attacks by my opponent. Other than that, he's a really great, powerful and pacey centre back at a really nice fee. He reminds me a little of Gomez, but more powerful and strong in exchange for a yard or two of pace.
- Great pace
- Solid passing
- Amazing defending
- Strength
- Jumping and height
- Value for coins
- Links
- Workrates
- Links again
Alright listen here, this is going to be short and quick.
its a 3 step process:
- Do SBC
- Put him in your team and slap a shadow
- clean sheets.
No but seriously this guy is abnormal, I have him with if delaney at the back and hes a rock.
the guy is quick, agile enough but most importantly... he tackles the shit out of everyone and doesnt give away fouls.
this guy could 2 foot mbappe and take out half the crowd and it would still be considered a clean tackle.
seriously stop reading this and buy him, if you have some fodder lying around and he could fit your team do it trust me.
DEFENDING
Strength
reliability
fights for the badge
pace
pace: ill tell yall why ive put place as a pro and a con. see hes fast, but he can get caught out by pacey strikers.
I came out against a team with mbappe neymar and ASM and he got exposed a couple of times (and he wouldnt, no defender can stop those pay 2 win players 100% of the time. I scrapped and draw and my oponnent dc, but denayer was really standing out defensively)
Agility : isnt on joe gomez or varane level but its enough, hes better than joe defending wise tho
- Solid Player
- Very Strong
- He Is Like Rio Ferdinand
- 83 Sprint Speed
- 80 Short Passing
- 87 Interceptions , 85 Standing Tackle , 86 Sliding Tackle
- 90 Strength , 88 Jumping , 87 Stamina
- 58 Balance
I completed him because i thought that 60k was quite cheap for those stats. I thought there must be a catch - surely there is something wrong. His stats kind of reminded me of a cheap Varane but with slightly worse links. After using him for several games (and partnering him up with Varane), I have came to the conclusion that he is worth it. Slap a Shadow on him and he becomes a beast at the bck, with 91 pace. Yes, 91 pace. You are reading that correctly. He is a beast and quite literally the Denayer of goals. I would 100% recommend. One of my favourite defenders.
-pace (Denayer: i am speed)
-defending (interceptions and blocks are just great)
-physical (stronger than akinfenwa)
-passing (the next cesc fabregas but in defense)
-dribbling (if neymar was a defender)
-shooting (score goals from 82 metres away)
-free kicks (not at the level of messi or ronaldo)
-links (not really any good strong links, only a few alright normal links)