{"id":9392,"date":"2025-04-17T17:15:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betwealthsuretips.com\/blog\/virgil-van-dijk-is-liverpool-captain-the-best-premier-league-centre-back-ever\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T17:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:15:52","slug":"virgil-van-dijk-is-liverpool-captain-the-best-premier-league-centre-back-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betwealthsuretips.com\/blog\/virgil-van-dijk-is-liverpool-captain-the-best-premier-league-centre-back-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgil Van Dijk: Is Liverpool Captain The Best Premier League Centre-Back Ever?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has extended his stay at Anfield.<\/b><\/p>\n

The 33-year-old centre-back, who has signed a new two-year deal, is on the verge of lifting his second Premier League trophy with the Reds.<\/p>\n

Van Dijk’s late winner against West Ham on Sunday moved Arne Slot’s men 13 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with just six league games to play.<\/p>\n

When he frustrated Manchester City striker Erling Haaland during a 2-0 win earlier in the season, ex-Reds defender Jamie Carragher declared on social media, external<\/span> that Van Dijk<\/b> is “the best centre-back we’ve ever seen in the Premier League”.<\/p>\n

“I always said it was John Terry<\/b> before Van Dijk came along,” he continued.<\/p>\n

“All great defenders of the past had attackers who caused them problems, but who ever causes Van Dijk any?<\/p>\n

“He’s just played against [Real Madrid’s Kylian] Mbappe and Haaland and played them with such ease he could’ve played with a cigar.<\/p>\n

“Please stop this silly debate about the best centre-back, it’s not even close.”<\/p>\n

Netherlands defender Van Dijk has more than justified the world-record \u00a375m Liverpool paid Southampton to sign him in 2018 – helping the Reds lift the Champions League in 2019 and end a 30-year wait for a top-flight title in 2020. <\/p>\n

The former Celtic player has won 160 of his 229 Premier League games for Liverpool, with a 69.9% win ratio.<\/p>\n

Only Arsenal legend Tony Adams<\/b>, Chelsea icon Terry<\/b>, and ex-Manchester United defenders Nemanja Vidic<\/b> and Gary Pallister<\/b> have a higher clean-sheet percentage than Van Dijk’s 42.4% at Liverpool (of players with 200 or more starts).<\/p>\n

Van Dijk has won a higher percentage of duels and aerial duels than any other Premier League centre-back since he made his Liverpool debut.<\/p>\n

Of centre-backs to have played 3,500 minutes or more since January 2018, Van Dijk has been dribbled past less often per 90 minutes than anyone else. On average a player gets past him once every seven games (it has only happened 35 times).<\/p>\n

And, since scoring in his Liverpool debut – a 2-1 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton – no defender has scored more Premier League goals than Van Dijk’s 20. <\/p>\n

Speaking earlier this season, former Blackburn striker Chris Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club: “[Ex-Leeds and Manchester United player] Rio Ferdinand<\/b> was a slightly different player to Terry. <\/p>\n

“Terry was a phenomenal defender. Tony Adams was a brilliant leader. <\/p>\n

“I get the Van Dijk shout as well. He has absolutely everything. People would look at Ferdinand’s trophy haul and say ‘well it has to be him’. <\/p>\n

“Currently yeah, I think he is – that’s me sort of copping out a bit but John Terry was phenomenal as well though so can we have a joint three – Terry, Ferdinand and Van Dijk?”<\/p>\n

Ex-Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given added it is “all about different opinions”. <\/p>\n

“Ferdinand, Terry, Vidic, Jonathan Woodgate<\/b> in his prime before he went to Real Madrid, Colin Hendry<\/b> at Blackburn, does John Stones<\/b> get a mention in his prime?”<\/p>\n

And he added “what a player” Paul McGrath<\/b> was.<\/p>\n

We want you to rank these 10 iconic Premier League centre-backs below. There were so many quality ones to choose from that some legends had to miss the cut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has extended his stay at Anfield. The 33-year-old centre-back,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-epl-breaking-news"],"yoast_head":"\nVirgil Van Dijk: Is Liverpool Captain The Best Premier League Centre-Back Ever? - Football World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/betwealthsuretips.com\/blog\/virgil-van-dijk-is-liverpool-captain-the-best-premier-league-centre-back-ever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virgil Van Dijk: Is Liverpool Captain The Best Premier League Centre-Back Ever? - Football World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has extended his stay at Anfield. 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