Rio Ferdinand has included Manchester City pair Ruben Dias and John Stones in his list of the Premier League’s top four defenders this season.
When it comes to talking about defending in the Premier League, few are as well placed as Rio, with the former Manchester United player winning the league title six times.
He also had the privilege of watching fellow legend Nemanja Vidic defend alongside of him at the back for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.
Now a pundit for BT Sports, Ferdinand has been carefully watching the current crop of defenders and has named his top four this season.
“I think [Antonio] Rudiger, since he’s been playing, has probably been [the] second or third best centre-half after [Ruben] Dias and maybe [John] Stones, [Harry] Maguire,” he said on the FIVE YouTube channel.
On Rudiger, Ferdinand added, “He’s around the bottom of that group. He’s been brilliant since the new manager has come in.”
Rudiger didn’t play all that much at the beginning of the season, with manager Frank Lampard preferring Kurt Zouma to partner Thiago Silva in defence.
Thomas Tuchel’s introduction in January really turned things around for the German, who has ended the season as an important part of the team.
The Blues only conceded 14 goals in the league in the second half of the season, after Tuchel came in, with five of those coming against West Brom in one of the most surprising results of the season.
It’s no surprise that Rio picked Dias and Stones in his list, with the City pair making a title winning partnership in their first season together.
Dias was signed from Benfica last summer, and has claimed he’s the greatest defender from his country ever, and Stones looked on his way out of the club after a poor campaign last year, but fought back to become a key part of the title.
The Portugal centre back has had such an impact this season at the Etihad Stadium that he was even compared to Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk.
Of-course the Dutchman missed out on Ferdinand’s list due to his season ending injury, picked up in the Merseyside derby back in January.
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