Dante

Key strength: Aerial dominance

Defensive anchor

At 42 years young, Dante stands as French football's most remarkable elder statesman. The Brazilian centre-back, valued at €500,000—a figure that belies a career packed with Bundesliga titles and Champions League glory—remains registered at OGC Nice, who currently sit 14th in Ligue 1 amid a stuttering campaign marked by inconsistent form. While the veteran anchor has yet to feature this season, his presence in the squad speaks volumes about the intangible qualities he brings: leadership, aerial dominance, and decades of elite-level know-how that money simply cannot buy. With defending stats of 55 and physical attributes that defy Father Time, Dante represents living history—a reminder of Bayern Munich's golden era now mentoring the next generation on the Côte d'Azur. In a Nice dressing room featuring emerging talents like Mohamed-Ali Cho and Jérémie Boga, the former Brazil international serves as both safety net and sage, his one yellow card this term perhaps the only blemish on a season spent largely orchestrating from the sidelines. Football rarely offers such enduring figures, and when Dante finally hangs up his boots, Nice will lose far more than a squad player—they'll lose a direct link to the beautiful game's grandest stages.