'Can outmuscle him': John Obi Mikel names three former Premier League strikers who Van Dijk could not handle

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Virgil van Dijk is one of the best centre-backs in Premier League history, but former professionals have doubted he could be competitive in their era.The Dutchman joined the Reds for £75 million in December of 2017, which was announced with the now iconic post of the player holding a Liverpool top in front of a Christmas tree.Since then, he has rejuvenated this Liverpool side, winning a Champions League and two Premier Leagues with last year’s win under Arne Slot, seeing him lead the charge as club captain.Van Dijk’s ability is second to none, and his calmness is one of the big reasons why he is able to do so well under high-pressure situations and keep the team out of trouble.Becoming the best in the league does come with different kinds of pressures, and it leads to talk about where he would rank amongst the greatest in the league.Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty ImagesJohn Obi Mikel says Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry, and Didier Drogba would cause Virgil van Dijk issuesNot that it matters too much, given fans know and would regard him as one of the best in the club’s history, which is arguably more important, but John Obi Mikel has now weighed in on his thoughts on the player.The former Chelsea star was brought on to talkSPORT to discuss his all-time Premier League XI, and during this debate, he was asked why the Dutchman was not considered.READ MORE: Liverpool may have had the perfect Virgil Van Dijk successor, but they chose to sell himThe Nigerian international believed that while he is a ‘fantastic’ player he would not have been able to handle the strikers in his era and named three who would easily beat him in one-on-one situations.Obi Mikel said: “I think in that era I just don’t think that Virgil would be as good as he is right now. Take nothing away from the strikers we have right now, but the strikers we played with back in the day.“You talk about (Wayne) Rooney, Thierry (Henry), Didier (Drogba) these guys they can outmuscle van Dijk.

Take nothing away from him he is a fantastic defender, brilliant defender, but I just think in that era he would have had many more problems with those guys.”Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry, and Didier Drogba are legends of the game, and looking at how van Dijk has handled the best of his era, he surely would have had a chance against any of those three.John Obi Mikel picks Mohamed Salah in his all-time Premier League XIWhile he may not have included the great Dutchman, he did decide to put one Liverpool player in his XI.As a former Stamford Bridge cult hero, he, of course, picked some players you would expect, including Eden Hazard in his team, but he also decided to pick Mohamed Salah in his team.The Egyptian can sometimes be overlooked in these kinds of lists, but Obi Mikel saved a spot for him on the right-hand side in his setup.He chose Salah for how ‘incredible’ he is and the records he has broken, with the only drawback in his view being that he ‘does not show up in big games’.