Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher added fuel to the fire of a compelling Premier League debate this week: who is the competition's greatest ever defender?
While the incredible attacking alumni of the English top-flight might hoard most of the headlines, there can be no denying that the league has played host to some world-class defensive players.
And in the opinion of Carragher, none of them come better than Chelsea icon John Terry, who captained the Blues to Champions League glory and five Premier League trophies.
Terry named Premier League's best
“For me he was the best centre back of the Premier League era. He was my type of player. He was basically a better version of me to be honest," Carragher explained to talkSPORT.
“I think his football ability is massively underrated. He was a great player. He could switch the ball 40/50 yards on his left foot.
"I always felt it was John Terry who was the defender and Rio Ferdinand was the footballer, but Rio was a much better defender than he was given credit for and I think John Terry was a much better footballer than he was given credit for.”
Premier League's greatest defenders
But is the Sky Sports pundit correct? Well, here at GIVEMESPORT, the debate was simply too fascinating for us to not open up to other impressive contenders.
Besides, I'm sure there are some passionate Manchester United and Liverpool supporters out there who have more than their fair share of suggestions to boot Terry off the throne.
And if you're a regular visitor to the GIVEMESPORT website, then you'll know that we like to settle many of these footballing debates using the fascinating medium of tiermaker.
Ranking Premier League greats
For this particular argument, we've taken the 24 candidates selected by the template's creator and ranked them from worst to best using categories such as 'thanks for trying' and 'unstoppable'.
Thanks for trying
Wes Brown and Kyle Walker
Don't think for one second that I don't respect Brown's achievements at United, winning five Premier League titles, but his resumé and longevity pales in comparison to the strong contenders here.
As for Walker, well, I think more fans will be in agreement with this selection and once again, it's more a case of the other defenders on the list being so good as opposed to the Manchester City star being in some way subpar.
Underrated
Kolo Toure, Ledley King, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister
For whatever reason, Toure doesn't seem to get the props he deserves for contributing to Arsenal's 'Invincibles', while the praise King receives from fans seems to be incongruous with the plaudits he draws from former teammates and rivals.
Incredible leadership, an eye for goal and underrated profile makes it frustrating that Bruce doesn't draw more plaudits and the passage of time seems to have been cruel to Pallister's standing amongst Premier League greats
Simply superb
Denis Irwin, Jamie Carragher, Marcel Desailly, Martin Keown, Ricardo Carvalho, Virgil van Dijk, William Gallas and Sami Hyypia
The most packed tier of the list. Again, under different circumstances, the brilliance of defenders like Carragher, Desailly, Keown and Hyypia would see them near the top, but I had to grit my teeth and differentiate the great from the greatest.
Van Dijk will probably stick out as my most controversial inclusion and although I think he could join the top tier by the time he retires, I think we should hold our horses while the 10 defenders above him have more league titles to their name.
Unstoppable
Gary Neville, Jaap Stam, Vincent Kompany, Patrice Evra and Sol Campbell
Neville is the top dog in the Premier League's pantheon of right-backs, bagging 11 titles with the Red Devils, while Kompany was the driving force and captain behind Manchester City's four Premier League triumphs.
Stam doesn't have the longevity of some of the other big names, but his impact in such a short time at United was simply indelible and Evra deserves to join him having established himself as an immovable force at Old Trafford.
As for Campbell, how can we not herald the standout defender in the Arsenal 'Invincibles'?
Absolute juggernauts
John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Tony Adams
Cole, named Cristiano Ronaldo's toughest opponent, is the greatest full-back to grace England's top flight since 1992, while Adams captained Arsenal to two titles in a defence that became world-renowned for its efficiency.
Vidic and Ferdinand speak for themselves as arguably the greatest defensive partnership in Premier League history, winning a combined 11 winners' medal with the latter being crowned the competition's best player twice.
If we had to pick, Terry would be the number one out of the quintet at the top table and if you want to hear why the Aston Villa coach is worthy of the GOAT status, kindly keep scrolling...
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GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says
I think it's pretty hard to disagree with Carragher, to be honest.
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have placed Ferdinand, Vidic and Cole in the loftiest tier if I didn't think they were worthy of competing with the Chelsea legend, but he would definitely be my pick if I had to choose a GOAT.
Not only is Terry the only player to captain a club to five Premier League trophies, but he also commanded the strongest ever defence during the 2004/05 season with just 15 goals conceded.
That's not to mention Terry is the highest-scoring defender in Premier League history, winning the PFA Player of the Year award and featuring in the FIFA FIFPro Men's World11 five times.
Oh, and he was also crowned the UEFA Club Defender of the Year three times in four years and placed in the top 10 of the 2005 Ballon d'Or to boot.
So, yes, debate the finer details of the tiermaker to your heart's content, but the more sentences I write, the more convinced I become that Terry really should be seen as the undisputed number one.
