Magnificent Kompany is best defender in the League

MANCHESTER CITY considered spending £75million on Virgil van Dijk in January and broke their club transfer record to sign £57m Aymeric Laporte. It turns out they had a defender of that value in their ranks all along. Vincent Kompany’s performance in the Carabao Cup final (below) was magnificent and he proved emphatically why he is the best defender in the Premier League when he is fit. In that kind of mood, he is a beast and showed why his s name can be placed alongside the defensive greats. I’ve played against him loads of times. The first thing to say is that he’s physically strong. When you come up against defenders whose key asset is strength, you know there know there will be areas you can catch them out, maybe with pace or positioning. Strong defenders don’t tend to be quick but he is. Kompany has everything. He is adequate on the ball — passing isn’t his forte — but he is a leader and an organiser; if you try and beat him in a race, he has the pace to catch you. He is powerful and will never be bullied. There is no tool to defend that he hasn’t got. John Terry, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand in their heyday were the top three I played against but I wouldn’t have any hesitation of mentioning Kompany in the same category. He’s been a brilliant player for City and at £6m from Hamburg in 2008, he’s been a brilliant signing, too.