World Cup 2014: Colombia's bright young centre-back Éder Álvarez Balanta poised to usher in new era "He's a very young footballer with only 24 matches under his belt," said Wernicke. He has a great deal of potential, he just needs more experience and needs to be challenged in a league that is more competitive than Argentina. Though Balanta has, perhaps, lacked guidance from an experienced defender, he has proven to be mentally strong and brims with confidence. Many have argued that a move to Barcelona would be an ideal fit for Balanta, a club where he could learn from players like Carles Puyol as well as Gerard Piqué before forging a centre-back pairing alongside Marc Bartrà. Barça, though, are not the only club that have showed interest in Balanta. Monaco and AC Milan have thrown their hats into the ring but many remain unconvinced with the €15 million price tag River Plate would ask for him. Despite Balanta's shortcomings, the youngster could be just the tonic for Colombia's ageing defence. Right now there are a group of defenders in their mid 30s that could easily be exposed against the speed of Japan in Brazil this summer. Balanta could yet replace AC Milan's Cristián Zapata or Carlos Valdés in the long run, thus putting Colombia manager José Pekerman in a situation where he would force him to consider the youngster as a starter in Brazil. Maybe that could be a stretch with just five months until Colombia's opening game with Greece in Belo Horizonte, but crazier things have happened. Should that happen, he would usher in a new era of defenders come Russia 2018.