Former Stoke City stalwart and one-time England international Ryan Shawcross has eulogised Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and said ‘he’s a 10/10’ defender.
Shawcross made 453 appearances for Stoke City during a 14-year stay at the club and regularly came across Van Dijk and Liverpool. In 20 appearances against the Reds, he was on the winning side just four times and lost 11 of the fixtures. Shawcross also won one cap for England and included Van Dijk in his ‘nightmare opposition XI’ he picked for StokeonTrentLive.
Van Dijk was selected as captain for Shawcross and his XI also included former Reds Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez. Shawcross wrote: “[Van Dijk is] slowly becoming the [best] centre-back ever and he’s my captain in this team. I’ve kept saying that you can’t rank him up there with the best because he hasn’t done it for long enough but the more I watch him, I can’t find a fault in his game.
READ MORE: FSG give intriguing hint over next Liverpool move after Jurgen Klopp contract
READ MORE: 'No doubt' - Roy Keane sends Jurgen Klopp message to 'worrying' Marcus Rashford
YOUR SHOUT: Pick your Liverpool team to face Newcastle in the Premier League
“I look on in envy. Every attribute he’s 10/10. He’s unbelievable on the ball, one v one, aerially he never gets beat, he reads the game brilliantly and holds a ridiculous high line to help Liverpool press. I’m surprised it took him so long to get to the top. When he played for Southampton he gave away a penalty at our place and it was still one of the best performances I'd seen. A Rolls Royce. At [£75m] he was a steal.
“Put him in Arsenal’s team and they’d be title challengers, put him in Man City’s and they’d win the league by 20 points. I love watching him. He’s up there with Baresi, Hierro, Rio Ferdinand and Cannavaro."
Van Dijk has made 175 appearances for Liverpool since he joined from Southampton in January 2018. He has been a key cog in the machine that has won the Champions League, Premier League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and EFL Cup. He was also the PFA Player of the Year in 2018-19 and in the UEFA Team of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
In Shawcross’s team, Van Dijk was part of a defence that featured Kyle Walker, Nemanja Vidic and Ashley Cole. Gerrard, Paul Scholes and Eden Hazard made up the midfield with Gareth Bale, Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo up front. Shawcross said: “I loved putting this [team] together and I could have done five different teams that all would have been brilliant. It reminded me of some of the great names that we went up against in the Premier League, brilliant players it was a privilege to test ourselves against - and occasionally beat.”
