Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, former Arsenal and Chelsea man Willian has claimed that Virgil van Dijk is the toughest defender he’s come up against.
Willian was chatting about his career with Ferdinand, and he answered a few questions from fans for the video.
As you can imagine, supporters wanted to know who the toughest defender Willian ever had to face was, and while the Brazilian was initially polite in picking Ferdinand, he eventually settled on van Dijk.
What’s Willian said about van Dijk?
The winger responded when asked which defender was the hardest to come up against.
“Rio Ferdinand, it’s true. Maybe van Dijk, it was hard to play against him. Thiago Silva, but I think I would say van Dijk,” Willian said.
Not surprising
It’s not at all shocking to hear Willian saying that van Dijk is the best defender he’s faced.
In fact, we can imagine that most professional footballers today probably have the same answer to the same question.
Van Dijk is a phenomenon. He’s the only defender in the last decade to win the PFA Player of the Year award, while he’s also finished second in the Ballon d’Or voting in the past.
Willian very rarely got the better of the Dutchman, but that’s not something to be ashamed of.
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