Best Alternatives to Josko Gvardiol 

Top 3 Alternatives to Josko Gvardiol 

1. 1.Marc Guéhi85% DNA match·Manchester City€65.0M
2. 2.William Saliba84% DNA match·Arsenal€90.0M
3. 3.Malick Thiaw84% DNA match·Newcastle United€45.0M

Ranked by AI DNA similarity — 768 dimensions across playing style, pressing intensity, and tactical fit.

Playing Style Analysis

A Ball-Playing CB. Statistically, he stands out as naturally left-footed, commanding in the air (4.1 clearances/90), meticulous in distribution (90% pass accuracy), wins the physical battle (58% duel success), heavily involved in possession (69 passes/90), penetrates with forward passing (9.4 final-third passes/90), central to possession (82 touches/90) and uses long balls frequently (5.3/90). The three most similar players to Josko Gvardiol  by playing style are:

• Marc Guéhi(85% match) — A Ball-Playing CB. Statistically, he stands out as commanding in the air (5.2 clearances/90), meticulous in distribution (85% pass accuracy), wins the physical battle (64% duel success), uses long balls frequently (6.3/90) and active off the ball (2.5 press score/90), contributing to defensive transitions.
• William Saliba(84% match) — Saliba has quietly become the most complete ball-playing centre-back in the Premier League—a defender who makes the game look administrative. His 92.7% pass accuracy and 76 passes per 90 place him in the top 5% of defenders in the division, yet the more revealing figure is his 6.81 passes into the final third per 90, putting him in the top 20%—this isn't a man simply recycling possession, he's actively driving attacks from deep. The counterintuitive truth: his below-average interception rate isn't laziness, it's positioning intelligence—he's rarely caught out of place enough to need them.
• Malick Thiaw(84% match) — Thiaw has quietly become one of the Premier League's most complete defensive profiles — a towering centre-back who doesn't just win his battles, he wins them cleanly. His aerial win rate of 65.1% and duel success of 64.2% both sit in the league's top 20%, but the counterintuitive story is his attacking output: 0.16 goals per 90 and 0.98 shots per 90 place him in the top 10% among defenders, suggesting a genuine threat from set-pieces that opponents routinely underestimate. His pass accuracy of 90.6% reflects a ball-player comfortable in possession-heavy systems, and his above-average delivery into the final third adds genuine build-up value.

Similarity is calculated using per-90 performance data across multiple playing style dimensions. How Player DNA matching works →