Kevin De Bruyne ranks Virgil van Dijk, Thiago Silva & Lisandro Martinez from worst to best | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne gave a fascinating interview to Sky Sports recently where he was asked to rank a number of figures both past and present in the football world. The Belgian, considered one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, was asked to rank three top Premier League players in his position: Bruno Fernandes, Martin Odegaard and James Maddison.

De Bruyne was also asked to rank three Premier League grounds based on atmosphere: Newcastle United's St James' Park, Liverpool's Anfield and Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

The Manchester City star has come up against a number of top defenders in his time in the Premier League and he was also asked to rank three of the best in England's top tier at the moment based on how hard they were to play against: Thiago Silva, Virgil van Dijk and Lisandro Martinez. All three players are great in their own right, but who does De Bruyne think is the best? View his answer below...

1 Virgil van Dijk

De Bruyne and Van Dijk have done battle on the pitch for a number of years but, despite the rivalry between Man City and Liverpool, De Bruyne put the Dutch defender first. He was full of praise when speaking about the Liverpool man, saying: "He's got everything. Obviously, I know him well, but he's got right foot, left foot, speed, height. He's a leader."

As De Bruyne alluded to, himself and Van Dijk are very good friends and spend a lot of time off the pitch. They were even spotted together on holiday this summer.

2 Thiago Silva

Silva has enjoyed an incredible career and he's still going strong at the age of 38. De Bruyne credited his longevity but decided against ranking him above Van Dijk. He said: "Thiago [Silva], he's amazing, but I just think that Virgil has got that little bit more."

He added: "I've played against him [Thiago Silva]. I've seen him play when he was at [AC] Milan and I've played against him at PSG. He's been there for 20 years. What a career he's had."

3 Lisandro Martinez

Martinez has earned rave reviews since signing for Manchester United from Ajax for £56.7m. He finished bottom of De Bruyne's list, though.

Explaining his decision to put Martinez bottom of the pile, De Bruyne said: "And Lisandro, he's a good player but I just don't know him well enough. So I can't really... not seen him enough and I've only played against him once or twice. So it's hard to say where [I'd place him]."

Martinez and De Bruyne have come up against each other three times since the former joined United. City scored a total of nine times and came out on top in two of those games, including the FA Cup final.

De Bruyne is currently injured and is expected to be out of action for four months after undergoing surgery on his hamstring. He won't feature in the Manchester derby on October 29 but someone who is expected to play a big part is Martinez, who may well use the Belgian's comments as extra motivation.