Steven Gerrard has claimed that Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is one of the best five centre-backs of all time.
Gerrard sat down with Mohamed Salah this week in a brilliant video produced by LFCTV – ‘When Stevie Met Salah.’ If you haven’t yet watched it, it’s well worth checking out as two Liverpool icons watch and discuss some of their greatest goals. With the conversation flowing between the pair, Salah poses an important question to Stevie.
“Would you choose [Jamie] Carragher or Virg?” chuckled Mo.
“I think Virg is one of, if not the best defender in the world. I think there’s levels to it,” explained Gerrard. “I think Jamie would openly admit that. But the importance – how important Virg is to your team, Jamie would have the same importance to us because he was always in the right place at the right time, he was a leader. If you think Henderson’s loud, times ten, that’s Carragher. A little bit more high-pitched!
“So, Importance, I’d say the same to the team. But in terms of levels, Jamie would probably admit that Virgil van Dijk is in the top five defenders who ever lived, for me.”
Stevie still a fan at heart
What a brilliant idea this was from LFCTV. Whoever thought up this one – give them a raise! It’s a half-hour long smile-a-thon for any Liverpool fan.
In amongst it all, it’s absolutely clear just how big-a fan Gerrard still is of the Reds. He may have held positions at other clubs over the last few years, but Anfield is where he belongs.
The way he speaks about several of Jurgen Klopp’s current crop is with sheer admiration. It would be brilliant to get him back at Liverpool working alongside them on the training pitch. Who knows, perhaps he could even help in their Jude Bellingham pursuit.
Whether that will happen or not probably depends on how keen Stevie is to come down off the back of four years as a head coach.
But given his words about the likes of Van Dijk, there would obviously be merit to dropping down. The chance to work with elite players once more must be a tempting one for Gerrard.
As for the comparison with Carragher – perhaps Carra won’t be best pleased with his old pal here. He and Van Dijk have had something of a little feud going on at times this season. No doubt we’ll see a response from the pundit coming soon!