Chelsea legend John Terry has waded into the Virgil van Dijk ‘GOAT’ debate following comments from former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant.
The ongoing debate over who is the Premier League’s GOAT has heated up after Jermaine Pennant claimed he would rather pick Virgil Van Dijk over Chelsea legend John Terry.
In a footballing tale as long as time, fans will always spend hours arguing amongst themselves about who was the better player.
Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Pele or Diego Maradona. Steven Gerrard or Paul Scholes the chatter rages on ad infinitum, and bickering over who was the better Premier League centre back is no different.
Since joining in 2017, Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk has staked a strong claim to the title of best centre back the world has ever seen. Never mind just English football.
The colossal defender has claimed six major honours during his time at Anfield. He has helped transform the Reds into Premier League and Champions League winners.
But it’s not just the Dutchman’s trophy cabinet that has earned him the GOAT tag. Instead, it’s the way he has claimed these honours.
Intimidating and rarely fazed, Van Dijk has achieved greatness with the aura of a man annoyed by having to do his job. Such is his genius, the colossus is usually two steps ahead of the game. For many years, you could count the number of bad games he had on one hand.
The Dutchman constantly finds himself measured against icons like Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and John Terry.
Predictably, Jamie O’Hara and Jermaine Pennant reignited that age-old debate on talkSPORT, as both pundits traded bold claims over where the Liverpool star truly ranks.
Jermaine Pennant’s calls out Van Dijk ‘disrespect’ from Jamie O’Hara
Greats like Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and John Terry remain the benchmark for the Dutchman in any Premier League discussion. Jamie O’Hara and Jermaine Pennant kept that tradition alive on talkSPORT this week, sparking a fresh row with their latest “GOAT” verdicts.
Joining the debate, former Liverpool winger shut down O’Hara with the simple reply, “I think he is”.
Pennant then went onto explain to justify his repsonse whilst O’Hara slowly began to spontaneously combust.
“Look at the age of Van Dijk now”, explained Pennant.
“He’s 34. At 34 Rio [Ferdinand] was playing at QPR.
“Van Dijk is at Liverpool playing competitive football, playing in the Champions League, still scoring, he’s scored more goals than all those defenders you’ve name so how can you disrespect Van Dijk like that?”
The 43-year-old then prompted more outrage from O’Hara when he nonchalantly said he’d rather have Van Dijk Terry in his team. Queue an exasperate “Are you joking?!” from his co-host.
John Terry fact checks Pennant as he weighs in
Whilst Pennant’s points over Van Dijk’s longevity remain valid, Terry himself was quick to respond to the Liverpool man’s claims.
Terry, who now works for Chelsea’s academy after 19 successful years with the Blues, took particular issue to the facts Penannt used to make his claim.
In a post on talkSPORT’s Instagram page the Chelsea legend said:
“Guys this is a debate that everyone’s entitled their opinion to.
“But Pens, when you’re on the radio and you’re giving your opinion, you have to get the stats right, there’s only one person who’s got the most goals as a defender in Premier League history and that’s me.”
Indeed, Terry’s tally of 41 Premier League goals is 14 more than the Liverpool captain’s current record of 27.
John Terry backs himself in Van Dijk debate
The former Chelsea skipper also went on to justify his position as one of the all-time Premier League greats by reeling off more Premier League records he currently owns.
“I also have the most clean sheets in Premier League history”, Terry added.
The center-back kept 214 clean sheets throughout is career, placing him just above another Liverpool legend, Jamie Carragher (195) on the list.
Van Dijk meanwhile currently stands on 124 clean sheets in the Premier League.
Terry continued, “And also, if you compare myself and Virgil, then I have more trophies than him as well.
“Also, you brought up a really good point. At the age of 34, 2014-15, I played every single minute of every game for Chelsea, winning the league when Mourinho was our manager.”
To be fair, Van Dijk was just shy of his 34th birthday when he captained the Reds to Premier League glory back in May.
However, Terry didn’t take himself too seriously in his response, admitting that he “loves” just being part of the debate.
Pennant defends Van Dijk claim
Despite the call out from Terry, Pennant is still refusing to be bullied into retracting his opinion.
In a post on X, Pennant said, “Not one single person has stated what JT is better at? All I’m reading is, he’s scored more goals…won more titles ok great. Tell me what JT is better at than VVD? It’s not pace, it’s not 1V1 DEFENDING!……please enlighten me.”
Stats have been thrown around. Claims have been made. But the debate rages on.
