Garth Crooks has said that he excepted Ruben Dias to struggle in the Premier League after he made his move to Manchester City.
However, the well-known pundit has admitted that he has been proven wrong by the Portuguese defender, who he named in his Premier League Team of the Season for BBC Sport.
In fact, Garth Crooks even said that according to him, Ruben Dias is Pep Guardiola’s first name on the Manchester City team sheet in big games.
Clearly, his opinion on the 26-year-old did a complete 180 as soon as he first stepped foot on to the Etihad Stadium in 2020.
Garth Crooks raves about Ruben Dias
The former Benfica defender has been a revelation since joining the Sky Blues, marshalling his side’s defence on their route to winning three back-to-back league titles.
Even this season, Dias’ return from injury coincided with City’s frightening unbeaten run, which is certainly not a coincidence.
Garth Crooks has now pinpointed why he believed Ruben Dias would have found it a hard time after his transfer to Manchester City, while holding his hands up about his initial thoughts about the switch.
“When he first arrived on the scene, I thought he could be bullied and that the physicality of the Premier League might be a little too much for him. Now he is doing all the bullying and City are the beneficiaries.”
Ruben Dias has the potential to become an all-time great
As Garth Crooks has seen, Ruben Dias is an old-school centre-back that simply enjoys the art of defending and does it at the highest level whilst being excellent on the ball.
With three Premier League titles to show for on his CV alongside one Carabao Cup trophy, he could complete club football at the end of this season.
For context, Dias is only entering his prime at 26 years old and has years to go for his career to come to an end.
Taking into account the decorated defender has already achieved individually and collectively, legendary status just seems inevitable for him.
