Liverpool’s defence has been one of the strongest areas of their first-team squad over the last few years.
Virgil van Dijk has been the leader that every manager would dream of, with the Dutchman often making those around him play much better than they usually would.
Players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson have all become better footballers after playing alongside Van Dijk, with the Dutchman ensuring that his team are kept in line.
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And, despite Van Dijk being seen as one of the best centre-backs in the world over the last few years, former Tottenham ace Ledley King believes that a player the Reds were linked with previously is actually better than him.
Ledley King says that Micky van de Ven is a better centre-back than Virgil van Dijk
Since the start of the 2025-26 season, something just hasn’t clicked with Liverpool’s back four, with Van Dijk even performing below his usual standards.
This has caused Liverpool to find themselves on the back foot more than once, which is far from ideal.
However, other Premier League teams have been more than solid at the back, with Thomas Frank’s Tottenham one of them.
Granted, a lot of this is down to the form of Micky van de Ven, who has arguably been Spurs’ best defender this season.
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And now, while speaking to All Out Football, King has admitted that he thinks Van de Ven is better than Van Dijk.
“Oooh I’m a big Mickey fan,” he said.
“I like Micky at the moment, it’s my guy, so Micky [is better than Van Dijk].”
Liverpool still need to make a lot of improvements to their team over the next year or so
Even though Liverpool’s recent form could just be seen as a rough patch, it’s clear that some more changes need to be made.
And if Liverpool had managed to sign Van De Ven back in 2023, a lot of their problems would have probably been solved.
The Anfield outfit spent around £450 million on new players in the summer, but now they only have three senior centre-backs available to choose from because of Giovanni Leoni’s ACL tear, which shows how poorly they have planned.
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There may not be all that much money left in the transfer kitty, but whatever they can scrape together needs to be spent on a new centre-back or two.
Rumours about the free transfers of Dayot Upamecano and Marc Guehi have been rife since the summer transfer window closed, and unless the Reds manage to pull something mental off, they’re only likely to sign one of them.
This would mean that they have five centre-back options, but with Slot’s lack of trust in Joe Gomez, it’ll be like they only have four once again.
It’s still too early to say whether the Anfield outfit will make any more signings this summer, but judging by their recent run of form, it’s clear that they need to.