Jaap Stam says Premier League star is 'better' than John Terry and Nemanja Vidic
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Jaap Stam believes a current Premier League defender is ‘better’ than Chelsea legend John Terry and Manchester United hero Nemanja Vidic.
Terry established himself as one of the greatest defenders in Premier League history during almost two decades at Stamford Bridge, lifting five league titles, eight domestic cups and the Champions League with his beloved Chelsea.
Vidic enjoyed similar success at Old Trafford, helping Sir Alex Ferguson’s United win five Premier League trophies and the Champions League while reaching two more finals.
Terry and Vidic are considered to be two of the best defenders the Premier League has ever seen but Stam, another all-time great, believes Virgil van Dijk is above both in terms of ‘overall ability’.
Van Dijk has been one of the stand-out players in the English top-flight for the best part of a decade, helping Liverpool end their long wait for a Premier League trophy and also lifting the Champions League at Anfield.
The Netherlands international turned 33 last summer but shows no signs of slowing down and is enjoying a sensational season, Premier League leaders Liverpool conceding just 20 goals in 21 league games.
‘Virgil van Dijk is one of the greatest defenders in Premier League history and people often mention Nemanja Vidic and John Terry – Van Dijk is a better player than those two were,’ Manchester United treble-winner Stam told BoyleSports.
‘I rate him above them because of his overall ability as a player, it's better. There are other names I could talk about but Van Dijk is up there with the best ever in the Premier League.
‘What we see now is him still performing at the highest level even though it's under a new manager and I think Arne Slot expects even more of him than Jurgen Klopp did.’
Van Dijk is one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract come the end of the season along with Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Salah has repeatedly discussed his Reds future in public, saying he has been ‘disappointed’ by Liverpool’s stance during contract talks, while Alexander-Arnold has attracted interest from Real Madrid.
Van Dijk has grabbed less headlines than his two Anfield team-mates but Stam says Liverpool will live to regret it if he leaves in the summer.
‘Virgil van Dijk is still showing his quality, he’s still very fit, he’s a real professional,’ Stam added. ‘He's also preparing his body to be ready for the next game as soon as one game has finished.
‘If they don’t give him a new contract, I don’t think they understand football.
‘But I think Liverpool are very wise when it comes to building a team, bringing players in, and giving other players new contracts.
‘I believe they’re working on that and trying to keep them within the club and I think that would be a very wise decision to do so.’
Van Dijk helped Liverpool keep another clean sheet on Saturday as the Reds scored two injury-time goals to beat Brentford 2-0.
Liverpool’s day got even better as Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa in the late kick-off.
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