Former Chelsea and Tottenham defender Jason Cundy has declared Virgil van Dijk as overrated.

Van Dijk has struggled for form as Liverpool have battled for consistency this season.

TalkSPORT's Cundy, speaking after Liverpool's Champions League defeat at Napoli, said: “He was lauded as one of the greatest centre-halves that the Premier League has ever seen – poppycock. He's not and I'll tell you why he's not, it's because it comes down to longevity.

“If you look at Rio Ferdinand and John Terry who over a number of years won multiple Premier Leagues, won Champions League and won FA Cups. The pair of them won the lot. Van Dijk is a brilliant centre-half, but overrated at Liverpool. If you did a best XI at Liverpool ever, he's not in there."

He continued: “There's no doubting how good Van Dijk was, but right now let's call it as it is, Van Dijk is an absolute shadow of the player he was.

“He's getting overlooked because he's happy to blame Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and Gomez and Tsimikas comes in. The mainstay right now is Van Dijk and he's nowhere near it.

“What about the challenge on Mitrovic for the penalty against Fulham? Mitrovic turns him, that's not Van Dijk! He squares him up, turns him, penalty.

“Against Napoli he lunges in and makes a challenge that he doesn't have to make."

“I never saw John Terry make decisions like that or consistently have a bad run like this. Rio Ferdinand, I never saw it. The drop-off from him being the greatest centre-half that the world has ever seen to now, the drop-off is colossus.

“I want Liverpool fans to see it and say it."