Rio Ferdinand has argued that Virgil van Dijk's rough season for Liverpool means he falls short compared to some of football's greatest ever centre-backs.
Ex-Manchester United defender Ferdinand, who's considered to be one of the Premier League's best-ever centre-backs, reckons that the likes of John Terry, Nemanja Vidic and Vincent Kompany never went through such a rocky period as what Van Dijk is currently enduring, with his Liverpool team-mates also going through a torrid campaign.
Before the Reds' limp 1-0 defeat away to Real Madrid on Wednesday - which saw them crash out of the Champions League, losing 6-2 on aggregate - Ferdinand told BT Sport: "There are phases in your career when things don't go to plan. But you look at great centre-halves like Vidic, Kompany, [Sol] Campbell, Terry, Jaap Stam they don't have a season off or big periods like eight to nine games off.
