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It is a debate which has swirled relentlessly around the sizeable head of the Liverpool colossus thoughtout his time at the Premier League champions-in-waiting.

Exactly where does Virgil van Dijk rank in the pantheon of defensive greats?

If even the most anti-Liverpool observers have reluctantly agreed that Van Dijk should be mentioned next to the likes of John Terry, Nemanja Vidic and Vincent Kompany when discussing the finest defenders of the Premier League era, where does he sit alongside the very best centre-halves in football history?

Is the Dutch behemoth one of the ‘Mount Rushmore’ central defenders?

Should his face be carved into rock alongside the likes of Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini?

Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand thinks Van Dijk remains the planet’s premiere defender.

Michael Owen, a Ballon D’Or winner during his time at Liverpool, goes one step further.

Owen argues that Van Dijk is ‘the best centre-back of all time’.

And, while his 34th birthday is now only three months away, Arne Slot is convinced the former Southampton and Celtic star can emulate Thiago Silva and keep swatting aside opposition strikers until there are forty candles on his cake.

Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

Van Dijk ended the uncertainty over his Liverpool future this week.

He signs a new two-year deal worth a staggering £400,000-a-week.

MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES

“His renewal is good news for Liverpool,” Bryan Roy, the former Netherlands international striker, tells Tuttomercatoweb.

Roy mentions Van Dijk alongside Milan greats Maldini, Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Mauro Tassotti.

Given that Maldini – the most recently active of the four – retired back in 2009, the one-time Ajax and Nottingham Forest frontman appears to suggest that Van Dijk is the finest defender to have played the game over the last 16 years.

“After Maldini, Costacurta, Baresi and Tassotti, there haven’t been many defenders stronger than others in football up to now,” Roy argues.

“All he needs to win is the European Championship or the World Cup…”

Van Dijk is yet to taste success on the international stage but he can win a second Premier League title this weekend.
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