Not far from my opinion. Virgil, Terry, Kompany. I agree with that top 3. Stones for me wouldn’t be ahead of some others, like Ferdinand and possibly a few more.
Yeah, when I did that poll earlier today that’s exactly what I did lol (Virgil top, as if it needed to be stated)…
It is tough to convince me there has ever been anyone as good as Virgil.
Even if you take away what he adds in attack - his threat from set pieces, his ability on the ball, his incredible passing range - even as just a pure defender it’s difficult to find peers. He is properly remarkable in how highly he scores in every category. It doesnt matter how you want to play and set up the team, he will allow you to do that where as lots of supposed peers have limitations that require them to have a certain type of partner next to them or have the team set up in a certain style to succeed (think how laughable Terry was under AVB’s high line). Beyond that appears to be pretty much the perfect teammate in how he conducts himself. He’d have been money well spent at twice the cost.
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John Terry coming second on that poll is a weird one for me. Yes, he was a bloody good defender, but I don’t think he offered much on the ball. There are players on that list who were equally good (and you could argue cleverer) defenders, but offered much more other than defending.
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He was quality on the ball. There were better than him of course, but very comfortable, also with a very good (weaker) left foot, as he was mostly LCB (even when partnered with Rio for England, although Rio was also RCB at United).
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Virgil ahead of Terry for me, then you can put the others in any order really (other than Stones who is a level below the rest). Personally think Stam was United’s best PL CB but isn’t discussed because of his relatively short stint there.
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Always rated Kompany myself but no one is on Virg’s level, without the assault by Pickford, there would be no debate from the so called pundits.
No attacker wants to go up against Virg.
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7 years ago todah, we signed this fella. We went from a leaky defense (Skrtel/Touré, anyone) to one of the best back lines in the world. Our successes, started with guy. I figure we get another 3-5 years before he slows down, Konate is a great pairing with him, when he is healthy. But we should be seeing a successor coming into the fold and I just haven’t seen it yet. Gomez is a great second-string CB but I don’t see him leading the line. None of them haven’t shown that trait. The word “imperious” gets used quite often, and it is quite fitting for him.
Quansah, I like him but he doesn’t have the stature.
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I’d say that he’s already slowed down. He’s still the best defender in the world though. But we should use his remaining time in Liverpool to get in a replacement and then train the replacement up.
Start with hiring a pair of CB’s and then giving them time to play with Virgil. At this point, His presence in the training field and during matches will improve them massively. The individual standard of players playing alongside guys like Virgil would increase.
It’s probably the same with getting Alisson in. We got Alisson in and training with Ali partly got Kelleher to become a very good goalkeeper. Same goes for Jaros hopefully. Both Ali and VVD are the signings that can hopefully set liverpool up in those positions for a fair while , long after they’ve left the club
I get the argument about Gomez but I would be wary to point out that we haven’t actually seen him as the “senior” centre-back much. I remember watching a League Cup game, can’t remember which one, where I noticed that contrary to my expectations, he was the one actually organising and commanding the back line, because he was the most senior.
But my main point was going to be that Quansah is 21. At the same age van Dijk was at Groningen, and the best transfer he could get was to Celtic for £2.6m I’m not saying Quansah will reach van Dijk’s levels, but I think it’s too soon to judge.
If we can retain van Dijk for the next couple of years it should be clearer whether Quansah will develop to that stage where he would be the next mainstay of the defensive line.
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Gomez is a good CB. And someone who if he remains injury free, will have a good career (with us or with any other club). I do think he can play as the left sided CB and have the role what Virgil does of being the last line of defense pretty well(as a backup). Often with our playing style, The Right sided CB’s are the ones more adventurous in their tackling and interceptions. Changed slightly when Matip was playing alongside VVD in some matches though. But for every other CB lineup , The RCB’s always looked vulnerable to criticism because of the tactics being employed.
I keep seeing people say this, when he’s not even been the best defender in our centre-half partnership this season.
Ibou has been better than Virg when he’s played but, of course, Virg has the all-important name recognition.
Nope. Ibou has made the RCB role more safer. One which gets him the plaudits. That’s more to do with Quansah and to a much lesser extent Gomez not giving that stability.
now with Ibou and Gomez both out injured, it’s crunch time for our CB situation with a very busy period coming up.
Time to recall Phillips? 
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We’re not that desperate… yet.
Konate should be back now in one of the next two games.
Let’s see if we are active in January if there’s an opportunity to get a player who we would target next summer anyway.
Why are we in Virgil’s thread?
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This is undoubtedly rubbish but was included on todays BBC football gossip.
Football gossip: Duran, Gyokeres, Van Dijk, Casemiro, Rashford, Zirkzee, Fullkrug, Cunha - BBC Sport
" Real Madrid have rejected the chance to sign Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk, who will be a free agent when his Liverpool contract expires in the summer, after being approached by the 33-year-old’s management. (Relevo - in Spanish)"
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Wouldn’t surprise me, it would be normal for his agent or entourage to check intimately what’s the situation and feeling at certain places. But Real probably want younger defenders, so that’s all expected.
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No chance after yesterday’s game there’s no way Virg would want to play alongside Trent for a couple more years 
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