Ruben Dias has arguably been the Premier League's best player this season.

Even the biggest skeptics of the Manchester City general has to admit that Pep Guardiola's decision to loosen his pursestrings for a new centre-back last summer proved to be an inspired one.

The leaky defence that saw them finish comfortably behind Liverpool's 2019/20 champions has since been plugged by Dias' steadying presence, helping City to wrestle back the English throne.

Dias' stunning season

Throw in the Carabao Cup and potential Champions League trophy for good measure and it's easy to see why Dias was recently crowned the FWA Footballer of the Year.

However, while most fans are on the same page about the brilliance of Dias' 2020/21 campaign, the debate surrounding its broader significance in Premier League history is still in its infancy.

Besides, make no mistake that such astonishing individual seasons from a centre-back don't come around every day and the Portuguese is in fact the FWA's first defensive prize winner of the century.

Liverpool sign Ibrahima Konaté - deal completed (Football Terrace)

Premier League impacts

Yes, that's right, even the likes of Nemanja Vidic, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand weren't able to snatch the prize, so make no mistake that Dias has been trail-blazing at the Etihad Stadium.

But one comparison that has so often been drawn when it comes to Dias and his impact in the Premier League is with Virgil van Dijk, who similarly enlivened the team for whom he signed.

You've got to admit, the sort of night-and-day changes that we've seen with City since Dias shored up their defence is certainly reminiscent of when Van Dijk strengthened Liverpool's back-line.

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2020/21 Dias vs 2018/19 Van Dijk

And now that the 2020/21 campaign has been resolved, that got us thinking and we wanted to find out the degree to which Dias' season compares to Van Dijk's finest year on Merseyside.

We are, of course, talking about the 2018/19 campaign in which Van Dijk narrowly missed out on the Ballon d'Or to Lionel Messi, bagged the PFA Player of the Year and wasn't dribbled past once.

So, we've turned to the Premier League's official player comparison tool for statistics and here are the results when you contrast 2020/21 Dias with 2018/19 Van Dijk - check them out: 

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An overwhelming win for Van Dijk

You've been fantastic this season, Ruben, you really have, but it's difficult to imagine a more dominant Premier League campaign from a centre-back than Van Dijk in 2018/19.

With more interceptions, tackles, successful tackles, last-man tackles, clearances, aerial battles won, headed clearances, passes and big chances created, it's fair to say that Van Dijk has the edge.

The Liverpool man was even dispossessed on fewer occasions, conceded fewer penalties, committed fewer fouls and picked up a quarter of the yellow cards that Dias accrued.

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Geez, Van Dijk even notched more goals, assists and clean sheets if you just want the top-line number.

Obviously, the elephant in the room here is that stats aren't everything and that's absolutely true but when Van Dijk is so, so dominant in the data, it's hardly grounds on which to dismiss the whole comparison.

But hey, regardless of whose season was superior or not, let's just celebrate the fact that defenders are increasingly earning the recognition they deserve in individual awards. Power to that.