Vincent Kompany ranks Virgil van Dijk as the greatest centre-back in Premier League history.

The former Manchester City defender made the declaration ahead of his testimonial at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.

And he caused a real stir.

"I would bring it back to Virgil van Dijk, he’s not been on the scene as long as [John] Terry, [Rio] Ferdinand who have been around for a long time but the signs he’s shown in the last few years,” Kompany said, per Goal.

"He's shown if he had been around longer he’d have been at the top for a long time.

“The Liverpool before Van Dijk and after are a completely different setup. I’ll give him that one."

Van Dijk has been a revelation since joining Liverpool in 2018 but the best centre-back in Premier League history?

That’s a big claim.

Fans vote for best CB in Premier League history

Sky Sports have been running a series of polls on Twitter to see what fans think.

They ran a knockout-style competition where followers voted between two centre-backs until a winner was announced.

And it went as follows…

Quarter-final number one:

Vincent Kompany: 52%

Jaap Stam: 48%

13,369 votes

Quarter-final number two:

Virgil Van Dijk: 51%

Tony Adams: 49%

23,163 votes

Quarter-final number three: 

Nemanja Vidic: 50%

John Terry: 50%

26,061 votes

Quarter-final number four:

Sol Campbell: 23%

Rio Ferdinand: 77%

22,713 votes

Semi-final number one:

Vincent Kompany: 49%

Virgil Van Dijk: 51%

28,671 votes

Semi-final number two:

Nemanja Vidic: 57%

Rio Ferdinand: 43%

34,593 votes

Final:

Virgil van Dijk: 45%

Nemanja Vidic: 55%

51,394 votes

So Vidic comes out on top.

The Serbian centre-back was a serial trophy winner at Manchester United, winning five Premier League titles, three League Cups and the Champions League.