If Ernest Hemingway played soccer: center back, rated 87

Ernest Hemingway as a soccer player: scouting report

Ernest Hemingway would play center back, because he went looking for physical challenges his whole life. He boxed for sport, fished for giant marlin in the Gulf Stream from his boat Pilar and wrote about the running of the bulls in Pamplona in The Sun Also Rises. A defender with that appetite for contact is going to win his duels. His defending is the best part of his card, and he reads the striker's run early and steps in hard.

His physical strength is right behind his defending, so he dominates in the air and holds off forwards with ease. His writing style was famously lean and direct, short sentences with nothing wasted, and his defending works the same way: a clean tackle, a simple pass and on to the next play. His passing grades out well enough to start attacks from the back, and his dribbling is surprisingly good, so he can carry the ball into midfield when the opponent sits deep. He won the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea, a story about a fisherman's long battle with a huge fish, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, so he knows how to see a long struggle through to the end.

Pace is the soft spot. He should not be isolated one on one with a quick striker, so pair him with a faster center back who sweeps behind. Fullback and goalkeeper are his next best spots, which shows how complete his defensive card is. For a drafter, he is a strong, combative anchor. Take him early if you want a center back who sets the physical tone for the whole team.

Plays like A fearless, rugged center back who loves a battle

Put Ernest Hemingway in your lineup

11 rolls, a starting eleven, 38 matches. Can you go 38-0? Free, no account.