Virgil van Dijk's future has suddenly become a topic of conversation, with the Liverpool captain being linked with a move to Turkiye as he enters the final year of his contract
04:00, 12 Jun 2026
NEW YORK - Virgil van Dijk of the Netherlands, during the friendly international match between the Netherlands and Uzbekistan at Icahn Stadium on June 8, 2026, in New York, United States. MAURICE VAN STEEN / ANP (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)
Virgil van Dijk has been linked with a move away from Liverpool this summer(Image: Getty Images)
There’s no denying Liverpool is reaching the end of an era. If you spend any time on social media, no doubt you will have seen THAT picture of the line-up from the 2019 Champions League final at some point recently.
It’s a picture that has become synonymous with the Reds’ peak under Jurgen Klopp, a time when the club was crowned European champion for a sixth time, and the 30-year wait for a league title was ended just over a year later.
The ultimate irony is that exact XI only ever played together once, yet you can’t help but look at it and feel somewhat melancholic as it has been disbanded over time, with just two players now remaining.
With Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson departing, that leaves just Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk remaining. There’s a good chance that, by this time next year, every one of those iconic 11 players will have left, well and truly bringing that era to an end.
Liverpool fans will want to make sure that, if this is to be Alisson and Van Dijk’s final year, they’re given the send-off they so richly deserve. The last thing they’ll want is for their time with the Reds to be cut short.
Thankfully, those rumors linking the former with Juventus seem to be dwindling, and Alisson looks most likely to stay put. Curiously though, Van Dijk’s future seems to be coming under the spotlight now.
MADRID, SPAIN - JUNE 01: The Liverpool team line up prior to the UEFA Champions League Final between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on June 01, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Only Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk remain from the Liverpool team that started the 2019 Champions League final(Image: Getty Images)
Reports in Turkiye are claiming that Galatasaray will soon launch a bid for the Reds’ captain. It’s not the first time he’s been linked with a move to Istanbul this summer either, and the suggestion is that the soon-to-be 35-year-old is one of the top targets for the Turkish champions.
That comes after fellow Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink urged Van Dijk to stay at Liverpool for another year, and make sure he gets the farewell he deserves.
"He didn't have the best season, and I think that's why he's really going to want to stay one more year and really produce in his final season, and then maybe say, 'Okay, I'm going to go',” Hasselbaink told 10bet.
"I would like to see him for one more year in the Premier League to finish it off properly. Give the Liverpool supporters a proper goodbye."
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With a player of Van Dijk’s age, and with just one year remaining on his contract, you can certainly see the logic in selling him. That should be the last thing on Liverpool’s mind though.
With Ibrahima Konate now gone, the Reds are facing going into the new season with just three other options at center-back - two of them being young defenders with no Premier League experience between them in Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni, and an injury-prone Joe Gomez, whose own future has been the subject of speculation for the last couple of years.
Letting Van Dijk go now would be a huge mistake. Even if the Reds sign a replacement for Konate, as they should, they need their captain’s seniority at the back more than ever.
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If that bid does arrive from Turkiye, or anywhere else for that matter, there is only one response Liverpool should have for it. There is simply no way it should entertain any interest in Van Dijk this summer, and the Reds’ captain has to be there for next season’s finale alongside Alisson for what could be the end of an era.