Van Dijk is up there with the best
Speaking on talkSPORT this week, Pennant claimed that Van Dijk was the best Premier League defender by some distance which sparked outrage amongst fans.
"I think he is out of all the players you've named, look at the age of Van Dijk now... he's 34.
"At 34, Rio was at Queen Park Rangers while Van Dijk is at Liverpool playing competitive football, playing Champions League and still scoring.
"He's scored more goals than all the defenders you've named so how can you disrespect Virgil like that. If you said which one am I having... I'm picking Van Dijk.
"Do you know how many Premier League games John Terry played at 34... he was in the under 21s.
"Terry is a legend but if you're saying as a defender 1 v 1, who would I want to run up against, I'd say John Terry every day of the week. I mean, since when did he come second in the Ballon Dor."
Terry responds
The clip went viral on social media on Monday, and now Terry has been drawn into the debate as he calls for Pennant to get his stats straight before joining the conversation.
"Now this is a debate that everyone's entitled to their own opinion but 'Pens' when you're on the radio and you're giving your opinion, you have to get the stats right.
"There's only one person who has got the most goals as a defender in Premier League history and that's me.
"I also have the most clean sheets in history and if you're comparing myself and Virgil, then I have more trophies than him as well.
"Also, you brought up a really good point. At the age of 34, in the season of 2014/15, I played every single minute of every game for Chelsea, winning the league in that season with Mourinho as our manager.
Van Dijk has made 327 Premier League appearances so far, scoring 27 and assisting nine whilst Terry has 41 goals in 492 appearances. The debate rages on as fans on both sides make various points about two players who many believe cannot be compared as they played in completely different times.