Former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has claimed that Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk deserves to be regarded as the Premier League's greatest-ever centre-back.

Van Dijk has only been a Premier League player for the past four years, but he has established himself as one of the world's best since joining Liverpool for a then world-record fee in January 2018.

The Dutchman is now favourite for the Ballon d'Or after helping Liverpool to win the Champions League last season, having also been named the PFA Player of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season for 2018-19.

Kompany, who is himself in the conversation for the league's best-ever centre-back, believes that Van Dijk's transformative impact on Liverpool puts him at the very top of the list.

"I would bring it back to Virgil van Dijk, he's not been on the scene as long as [John] Terry, [Rio] Ferdinand who have been around for a long time but the signs he's shown in the last few years show if he had been around longer he'd have been at the top for a long time," Kompany told the Liverpool Echo.

"The Liverpool before van Dijk and after are a completely different set up so I'll give him that one."

Van Dijk has already been named the UEFA Player of the Year for 2018-19 and is also among the finalists for The Best FIFA Men's Player award.