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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is right up there when it comes to any conversation about the very best defenders of his generation — and indeed the Premier League era as a whole.

But former Liverpool star Steve Nicol says it is hard to make the argument that he is better than John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, putting the three on the same level when it comes to ranking them in England's top flight.

"I think the answer to the question is that he hasn’t surpassed [Terry and Ferdinand] because they’ve all been as important in captaining and looking after everyone around them in great teams," Nicol said on ESPN FC.

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A few days later, the Liverpool defense was left exposed again during the Premier League game with Bournemouth.

On his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, the former England international remarked: "Speaking of center-backs who play under a lot of scrutiny, I've seen a lot of people talking about Virgil van Dijk and his performance in the Community Shield.

"Yeah, Virgil van Dijk will come off that game and then go, 'I could have made a better decision here or there'.

This stage of the season, before the first game of the Premier League, that's normal.

"So I don't get people saying, 'Oh, has he gone?'.

Even Terry and Ferdinand, who played at the same time, were different kinds of players.

Van Dijk, as Nicol says, is right up there when it comes to the very best of all time