Rio Ferdinand names himself and two Man United stars among top five Premier League centre-backs

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has ranked his top-five centre-backs in Premier League history, listing himself as the best the division has ever seen.

Ferdinand made the admission during a special feature for BT Sport with Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk. The former United man sat down with the Dutchman to discuss a variety of topics, ranking their best Premier League defenders among them.

The former England international — who played for United between 2002 and 2014 — will go down as one of the best centre-backs to have ever graced the Premier League, with many other pundits saying as much. Throughout his United career he was faced with challenging several other famous centre-backs, including Manchester City icon Vincent Kompany and former Arsenal and England star Sol Campbell.

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However, Ferdinand chose to complete a United one-two as far as his top-five was concerned, naming fellow former defensive partner Nemanja Vidic as his second-best centre-back in Premier League history. Fellow former United defender Jaap Stam also made the cut, claiming third, with John Terry and Van Dijk also featuring in his top-five.

"I believe I was number one, seriously, I'm putting myself number one straight away, that’s how I approach everything," Ferdinand told BT Sport. "I'm going to go for Vidic second.

"He was my partner in crime. I thought he led by example, didn't ever say much. I was a talker and an organiser, but he was an animal.

"He was the only player I saw that strikers looked at and thought 'woah', look at his nose. He used to head through people to win the ball, but he was actually a better footballer. He read the game really