Gary Neville cannot get enough of Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk this season, tipping him for his Player of the Year.
Neville says that there is no other player in the Premier League who comes close to him for winning the accolade, and compared him to a central midfielder after labelling his passing as “unbelievable”.
The Sky Sports pundit adds that this is the one player that the Reds do not want to be injured during the season run-in, as he is one of the best central defenders he has seen in a very long time.
“100 per cent he’s player of the year for me. There’s not even anybody else close to him. Watching him in the last 12 months, everybody is giving him the praise he deserves. He’s been absolutely outstanding,” he told Sky Sports.
“He’s a unique defender. Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos have been the best centre-backs in the world for me for the last few years. There is no doubt that this guy now is going to be up there in the next few years as the best centre-half in the world, because I’ve not seen a centre-half as good as him for a long, long time.
“And his in-possession play, his passing is a joke – it’s unbelievable. He passes it like a central midfield player. To me, he’s the player in the team that every Liverpool player will say if there’s one injury we don’t want, it’s him. He can’t get injured. He’s the one that’s got to stay fit.”
