During his career, Rio Ferdiand played alongside and against some of the greatest players in the world in an era of football that's no more as the game has been changing with each passing decade.

Nonetheless, the former Manchester United and England center back was at the peak of his powers in the mid 2000's during what was known as England's "Golden Generation" that surprisingly never won anything at the international level.

At the club level in the mid to late 2000's, the Premier League was riddled with world class midfielders in a way that's just different than it is know. Crunching tackles, 30–40 yard passes, scoring screamers, hard-nosed antics, and taking matches by the scruff of the neck are essentially what the archetype was of a certain ilk of midfielders at the time, though there are certainly versions of that today.

While England now have the likes of Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, and Elliot Anderson starring, they once possessed Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, and Paul Scholes.

In the Premier League, there were also a bevy of non-English midfielders that had it all. Who could forget the feuds between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira? More recently, who could overlook Kevin De Bruyne as one of the greatest Premier League midfielders of all time?

Rio Ferdinand Names Top Premier League Midfielders

On a recent episode of the "Rio Presents" podcast, the former United defender had his say on who his top three Premier League midfielders of all time are. He had initially narrowed his selections down to Vieira, Gerrard, Lampard, De Bruyne, Scholes, and Keane.

Ferdinand chose his three while also saying that Yaya Toure held the best ever individual season for a midfielder in the 2013/14 season with Manchester City.

From his list of Vieira, Gerrard, Lampard, De Bruyne, Scholes, and Keane, Ferdinand said that "Vieria, Lampard, and De Bruyne all miss out (on the top three)." For him, the top three all-time Premier League midfielders are Gerrard, Scholes, and Keane.

Ferdinand Breaks Down His Rationale

For the case of Scholes getting in the top three, Ferdinand said:

"When you talk to people like Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane, Xavi, those three guys there go, 'Scholesy is the truth, Scholes was different.' He's the English player that they looked at and went, 'oh my god.' [He could play in' any country, in any era. Scholesy was the badest, right, so Schloesy's in (my top 3)."

Scholes spent his entire career at United, won 11 titles and was part of the team that became the first English club to win a continental treble in 1999. He is viewed as one of the finest playmakers in history, registering 155 goals and 84 assists in 717 games.

For the case of Keane, Ferdinand said: "I don't know if there's been more of an influential midfielder on a team for as long a period, and as dominant, as him...He's not a skillful as Patrick Vieira, but if we're talking about a man who could dominate a game, the tempo, and pass the ball forward - from that position (it's Keane."

The Irishman captained United for the majority of Ferdinand's spell at Old Trafford. He was a feisty midfielder but beyond his aggressive nature, he was exceptionally talented and his display in Turin against Juventus is one of the best individual performances in Champions League history.

When his co-host Joel Beya brought up Ferdinand having Gerrard in his top three over De Bruyne, Ferdinand argued that "De Bruyne is not better than Gerrard on any day of the week."

Gerrard didn't win a Premier League title during his career but he staked his claim as one of the best all-round midfielders in top-flight history. He could do it all, including the defensive work for his team and come up with incredible long-range winners.