Dominic Solanke has been ranking and rating some of the best defenders he’s ever come up against.
The Tottenham striker was asked to rank Virgil van Dijk, William Saliba and Ruben Dias as the three toughest defenders in the Premier League.
Van Dijk came out on top for Solanke as the Spurs star labelled the Liverpool man the best defender in the world.
Dominic Solanke was then asked if there were any other honourable mentions he’d like to make in terms of which defenders he thought were underrated in the Premier League during his time in the division.
Solanke has played against a whole host of different defenders, but according to the England international, Antonio Rudiger is one of the most underrated centre-halves he’s seen, praising the German for his spell at Chelsea.
Dominic Solanke says Antonio Rudiger was underrated
Solanke named Rudiger when asked to pick out a defender he thought was quite underrated during his time in the Premier League.
The England striker says that Rudiger was a tough and aggressive player who he found very difficult to face.
Callum Wilson also hated facing Rudiger, while Mesut Ozil hailed Rudiger in the past too.
Rudiger would eventually leave Chelsea on a free transfer to join Real Madrid.
“Are there any other defenders who we have missed out? Any underrated centre-backs who you had a lot of battles against in the Premier League,” Solanke was asked.
“I think a player like Rudiger when he was here. Players like that are quite tough, aggressive, always trying to manhandle you and stuff. These three have similar physiques, but I think Rudiger is quite different and difficult as well,” Solanke said.
Dominic Solanke record vs Antonio Rudiger
It’s interesting to hear that Solanke found Rudiger so difficult to play against, because he hardly even shared a pitch with the German.
Indeed, Solanke only ever played 31 minutes of football against Rudiger in his career, but it would appear that Rudiger made a serious impression during that brief period.
| Dominic Solanke record vs Antonio Rudiger | |
|---|---|
| Games | 2 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Losses | 1 |
| Minutes played | 31 |
| Goals | 0 |
Rudiger was a top defender, and it only took him 31 minutes to show his dominance against Solanke.
Ian Wright reckons that Chelsea need a new centre-back, and the Blues would do very well to bring in someone of Rudiger’s quality.
Who knows? With Real Madrid eyeing up William Saliba, perhaps Rudiger could be open to a return to the Premier League at some point in the near future.
