There was a time when fullbacks were primarily, well … defenders. You might occasionally see one scamper up a flank to join an attack, but rarely both and never without a nervous glance backwards. Fullbacks were usually shorter, not dominant enough aerially to be deployed centrally. It was a position without glamour or fanfare. Now, they are some of the most in-demand personnel on the market. They command staggering transfer fees at the highest levels, and assume an incredible amount of tactical responsibility.
While there is a general impression that this evolution of fullbacks from wide defenders to what they are now is a recent one, the fact is that we saw the idea germinate as far back as the 1960s and ‘70s when cavalier fullbacks like Nilton Santos, Carlos Alberto, and Giacinto Fachetti refused to literally be put in a corner.