Van Dijk is best ever Premier League centre-back – Kompany

Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk is the best ever Premier League centre-back, according to Vincent Kompany.

Van Dijk, 28, has starred since his move from Southampton to Liverpool, for a reported £75million, in January 2018.

The Netherlands international finished second to Lionel Messi for the Ballon d'Or last year, having helped Liverpool win the Champions League.

Manchester City great Kompany, now the Anderlecht player-manager, believes Van Dijk is the best centre-back in Premier League history.

"I would bring it back to Virgil van Dijk," he told SPORF.

"It's a weird one because he hasn't been on the scene for as long as these names we mentioned – John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, these guys were there for a long, long time.

#OnThisDay a year ago, what a day! pic.twitter.com/Zl14LyZC5a

— Virgil van Dijk (@VirgilvDijk) April 28, 2020

"But the signs he showed in his last few years, just makes it so obvious that if he would've been at the top, top level before that he would've been already further as well.

"From what I've seen in terms of having an impact on a team and a defender is never about himself, it's about his communication with other guys and how you make your team more solid.

"The Liverpool before Van Dijk and the one after him, it's a completely different setup and I'll give him that one because of that."

Liverpool held a 25-point lead atop the Premier League table when the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.