Former Premier League midfielder Tom Huddlestone, who is now on the books at Manchester United, has made a big claim about one of the club’s legendary defenders.
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, Manchester United have had their fair share of superb centre-backs over the years.
Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister were the dominant pairing in the early years of the league before Jaap Stam was brought into the club.
Laurent Blanc has also played in defence for the Red Devils before Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand became arguably the league’s best defensive pairing during the mid-2000s.
Huddlestone on best defender
Well, speaking on talkSport, Tom Huddlestone has played against the likes of John Terry and was a huge fan of -Stam but the Englishman believes that Ferdinand is the Premier League’s best ever.
“I’ve played with Rio in a couple of England squads. I thought that 2002 World Cup, I thought he was the best defender in the world,” Huddlestone, the United academy coach, said.
“Cultured, good on the ball, if he wanted to play in midfield he probably could have from a young age. Yeah, Rio was class.
“With the younger players coming through the squad, I had a few chats with him myself and he was helpful, having been in a couple of squads with him.”
When asked if Ferdinand was the league’s best-ever defender, he said: “He would be, in my opinion.
“I think there are three or four up there. John Terry, Jaap Stam, albeit he was only there three years but won the title every year, probably them three.”
Ferdinand’s quality
Playing alongside Vidic, it’s perhaps easy to forget just how good the Englishman was considering he was playing with another Premier League great in the Serbian defender.
A defender with superb quality on the ball and the intelligence and the know-how to be in the right place at the right time and it certainly shouldn’t be an unpopular opinion to say that the Englishman was the best.
Ferdinand may not agree with this stance but for a decade, he was England’s best defender and deserves all the plaudits he gets.
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