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Football has a way of writing scripts even the craftiest of writers cannot come up with. In the process of making such magnificent tales, football creates its own heroes and villains. Fans instantly buy such footballing stories and it heralds the beginning of age-old arguments and controversy.
The Messi - Ronaldo rivalry is one that the beautiful game has written in recent years and has brought about serious debate and division among fans and pundits.
In more recent times, the emergence of Virgil Van Dijk from obscurity in Celtic to mid-table mediocrity in Southampton and now to the bright Anfield lights with the whole world watching is another story that football is spinning on us.
Virgil Van Dijk has moved from being a normal defender who was not even in the reckoning for his national team to a player worthy of the armband at Liverpool and for the Oranje. His quick rise to stardom has seen some observers prematurely refer to him as the best defender in the world and this has led to heated debate among fans and pundits worldwide.
While the former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann says that Van Dijk is by far the best defender in the world, Chris Sutton takes it even further by saying that the Dutchman is the third best player in the world, behind only Messi and Ronaldo.
With the debate still raging on after every great Van Dijk performance, we consider three reasons why the Dutch international is not the best defender in the world.
Also see : Copa America Schedule, Copa America Standings
#1 Presence of better defensive stalwarts in the game
Football fans most times have a very short memory. We keep looking for the next shiny new prodigy or superstar that will get us off our feet and keep us all excited. This makes us extremely short memoried and forgetful of the excellence we have been witnessing all the while.
Newer is not always better. It would be folly to refuse to admit that Van Dijk has joined the group of truly elite defenders in the beautiful game. However, we must not forget the stalwarts who have seen it all, done it all and are still consistently doing it for club and country.
Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Diego Godin, Sergio Ramos, Matts Hummels, Raphaël Varane, Thiago Silva and Gerrard Pique are some examples of these players who have consistently shown their defensive class and are still doing so now.
The arrival of Van Dijk into this elite circle has not automatically made all these players that have been and remain indispensable to their clubs to be inferior to him.
The English Premier League is by far the most watched and followed league in the world. Van Dijk is arguably the best center back in the league and this makes fans of the English game to prematurely crown the Liverpool player as the best defender in the world.
Fans of Italian Serie A could also argue that Koulibaly is the best in the world because of his heroics for Napoli in the last few seasons. As great a defender as Koulibaly is, he is not the best in the world and the same applies to Van Dijk.
#2 Van Dijk hasn't won many Trophies yet
Yes. Football is a team sport. One player does not single-handedly win a trophy for a team. When that player is a defender, the odds are further stacked against him. This reason also makes it difficult for midfielders, defenders or goalkeepers to win the best player award above their attacking teammates after they win a trophy together.
However, football discussions or debates are validated by results which in turn produce trophies. Sergio Ramos, Diego Godin, Raphael Varane, Gerard Pique, Matts Hummels, and Giorgio Chiellini have all been indispensable members of title-winning teams for club or country or even both.
For all the talk concerning Van Dijk, Liverpool is the biggest team he has represented and the Scottish league and cup are the only trophies he has won in his career. When compared with this other household names who have been a vital part of several title-winning teams, then the Dutchman falls short considerably.
This is not to say that he will not win any other trophies in his career or that immediately he wins a trophy he becomes the best in the world. The best defender in the world must at least have consistently led or helped his team to effectively challenge for and win some titles.
#3 What the numbers say
Football is a numbers game. How much one can actually rely on statistics in judging a player or different players is a matter of opinion. Some teams crunch numbers before they decide to buy a player. Other teams send scouts to see the player first hand and be judged instinctively by the football knowledge of the scout.
Van Dijk's stats this season are just marginally better than that of other top six defenders in the Premier League. He has played more games than all the other defenders and this contributes to the marginal difference.
Liverpool have kept the most clean-sheets of all the teams in the top six while Arsenal have kept the least. A comparison between Van Dijk and Mustafi does not show any such gap at all.
Van Dijk comes on top marginally in three categories: blocks, clearances and aerial battles won. Mustafi on the other hand, having played three games less than Van Dijk, has more interceptions, tackles, tackles won and headed clearances than Van Dijk.
When the Dutchman's stats are compared with that of players like Chiellini, Thiago Silva, Godin and Bonucci for this season, Van Dijk only comes on top in aerial duels won and total clearances made per game.
Different things are expected from defenders in different leagues and that contributes to an increase in numbers for defenders in a particular league on some defensive statistics. Van Dijk does not come out overwhelmingly on top after such considerations.
Van Dijk is capable of becoming the best defender in the world. His reading of the game, passing and aerial prowess are some of his biggest strengths and in time to come may elevate him to being the best defender in the world. However, he is by no means the best in the world right now.
