Rio Ferdinand ranks top three greatest Premier League midfielders of all time as podcast co-host left stunned

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand selected the three best Premier League midfielders and some world class players didn't make the cut.

Ferdinand named his top three midfielders on his Rio Presents show and left co-host Joel Beya open-mouthed by excluding Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City legends who each have a claim to be among the best in Premier League history.

Starting with a shortlist of six, Ferdinand quickly discarded ex-Chelsea man and Coventry City manager Frank Lampard and pitted two of his Old Trafford team-mates against three players with no fewer than nine Premier League titles between them.

Despite the infamous rivalry between Man Utd and Liverpool, Ferdinand rated former Reds captain Steven Gerrard among his top three midfielders and Man City's Kevin De Bruyne missed out.

"De Bruyne is not better than Gerrard on any day of the week," said the ex-England international centre-back. "I'm sorry, he's not."

De Bruyne's exclusion is the main source of Beya's astonishment but Ferdinand is unmoved by his protests.

"I've got [Patrick] Vieira, De Bruyne, Lampard, [Roy] Keane, Gerrard, Scholes. They're my Mount Rushmore," continued Ferdinand.

Mount Rushmore famously features four faces but Ferdinand trimmed his six names down to three by selecting United pair Keane and Scholes ahead of World Cup winner Vieira, who also enjoyed twilight success with Man City.

Rio Ferdinand

"I'm going to say Vieira, Lampard and De Bruyne just miss out," confirmed Ferdinand.

Scholes makes the grade on the basis of 11 Premier League titles and Keane's forceful impact in United's golden years in the 1990s puts him right up at the top of the best midfielders of the modern era.

"I don't know if there's ever been more of an influential on a team for as long a period, and as dominant, as him," said Ferdinand of the Irishman.

"Roy Keane was the midfielder's midfielder."

Keane led Alex Ferguson's United to seven Premier League titles, Four FA Cup wins and a long-awaited Champions League triumph in 1999.

According to Ferdinand, his former team-mate is under-appreciated by fans who see him in his role as a larger-than-life television pundit but don't remember his extraordinary excellence as a player.