Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven had named Manchester City star Ruben Dias as being the best centre-back in the world.
The 22-year-old is currently in the midst of his debut season in the Premier League, having joined Spurs during the previous summer transfer window in a deal worth £43m from Wolfsburg.
With the Dutchman now having 10 league games under his belt, the Spurs figure has been sharing his thoughts on another one of the Premier League’s top centre-backs.
Van de Ven heaps praise on Dias
Speaking in a recent video published on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Van de Ven had this to say when asked who he feels the best centre-back in the world is right now.
He said: “For me, Ruben Dias. He’s so strong and the way City plays every centre-back also has to play with the ball, but for me, with the ball and without the ball, defensive part and how he is on the pitch, it’s a really good player.”
City signed the Portuguese international during the 2020 summer transfer window from Benfica in a deal worth £65m.
Since then, Dias has made 146 appearances for the Manchester club across all competitions prior to today’s Premier League match against Bournemouth, winning numerous trophies in the process.
Having recently been ranked 30th in the latest Ballon d’Or list, this shows how much of a top defender the 26-year-old is.
Across his nine Premier League games so far this season, the centre-back has racked up more clearances (19) and the second-highest number of interceptions (10) in the City squad, in addition to making more passes into the final third of the pitch (61) than any other defender at the club.
This, in addition to Van de Ven’s comments, further highlights how impressive Dias is and why he has been such a great buy from the club.
