Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been hailed as the best defender in the world by former Reds star Jamie Redknapp.

The Sky Sports pundit watched as Liverpool tore West Ham apart on their opening Premier League fixture, with Jurgen Klopp’s men winning 4-0 and putting on an extremely convincing performance all-round.

The victory has left the footballing world convinced that Liverpool are a force to be reckoned with this season, and will challenge Manchester City for the title.

But the hype doesn’t end just there, with Redknapp singling out Van Dijk as a star in the team.

The Dutchman cost Liverpool £75m back in January, and has helped to transform the Reds’ defence. Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Redknapp believes the defender is the best in the world.

“Virgil van Dijk is the best central defender in the world. This season we will see the best from him.”

Van Dijk himself admits he is pleased with his team’s performance, but says that talk of winning the title is far too soon.

“We’ve seen the media writing about us as the new champions and stuff but we don’t really look at those things,” said Van Dijk. “We need to just focus game by game.

“We want to do well. We want to achieve greater things so we need to be ready for any challenge, any battle that comes to us.

“We are very well prepared, we were looking forward to this game and I think everyone could see it.

“For us it is key that we don’t look too much at other teams. We need to look at ourselves and be ready every week for any opponent we face.

“That is key at the moment.”