I don’t know what to do with fullbacks. The less mobile ones are being transformed into center-backs, the more mobile ones are being made into midfielders, and the limited, more traditional ones are either phased out or too good to sell. Versatility wins.

The team with a collection of all three different use cases in this dilemma is Chelsea. 

Reece James is now being used more as an outside center-back on the left. He was tried in midfield, but due to his career-long bout with endless amounts of injuries, he has lost almost all of his explosiveness and mobility in his hips. He is slow on the turn and not all that helpful in midfield right now. But he is still a good passer; he is intelligent, a leader, and can defend well enough to remain helpful as an outside center-back who isn’t afraid to venture into the midfield or make a run up the wing. He is too good to simply banish or sell.

Left-back Ben Chilwell has all but been removed from the squad due to the fact that he can neither play in the midfield nor as an outside center-back. He represents the traditional fullback. A dying breed of player that is serviceable on the wing to put in a cross and fall back to defend but would never look comfortable as a winger taking players on one-on-one in midfield or operating on the last line of defense as a center-back. There is a team out there for him, but it is not Chelsea right now. 

Malo Gusto and Marc Cucurella both represent the mobile fullback. Gusto shouldn’t be played as an outside center-back but can play in a double pivot, can play in more advanced roles in attacking midfield, can rotate wide with a winger to put crosses into the box, and can play more as a traditional fullback when the tactic requires the team to play with a back four. Cucurella can play as an outside center-back plus all of the things Gusto can do. They are what teams like Chelsea are searching for.

With Gusto and Cucurella, there are a lot of “can’s.” They can do this; they can do that. This is the power of their versatility. But the recent trend is that fullbacks are being asked to play further forward as attacking midfielders, like Rico Lewis has at Manchester City. My question is, should they be used as attacking midfielders?

Enzo Maresca on Malo Gusto: 

We think with Malo (Gusto) there, playing as a 10, we can cause problems for the opponent. He is doing fantastic.   Malo is helping us a lot in terms of process because he is playing as a holding midfielder, he is playing in the pocket, and he is playing at some moments as a central midfielder. For sure, Malo is doing well, and he is going to continue in that way.

Over time, fullbacks can learn to play as attacking midfielders, but I don’t think these fullbacks should because most lack that ability to find that final shot or pass. They can do everything else, but when faced with an important shot or pass to score, they don’t have the same qualities that a more natural attacking player possesses.

It is a problem born from fear. 

Enzo Maresca on why he can’t start Christopher Nkunku in place of one of the fullbacks:

I’ll be honest with Chris (Nkunku) and all of them. […] I’ve told them since day one that we cannot play with seven to eight attacking players; otherwise, there is no defensive balance. Nkunku and (Nicolas) Jackson can compete, and they’re ready.

The fear is the defensive balance. The pragmatic mind wins, unfortunately. They think they need someone to track all the way back from a far-advanced attacking position to operate in that fullback position out of possession.

The role of the fullback now, if these trends continue, is to be a Swiss army knife. The best Swiss army knife wins the starting spot and the attention of the coach, and the rest are getting shifted to teams that use tactics from the past or who haven’t followed this crowd of thinking. That change is happening in every position, but especially in the fullback position. Versatility wins again and again.