Virgil van Dijk's future remains uncertain as Liverpool contract progress continuesVirgil van Dijk's future remains uncertain as Liverpool contract progress continues
Virgil van Dijk's future remains uncertain as Liverpool contract progress continues | Getty Images
Virgil van Dijk is a generational great but one Netherlands colleague doesn’t have the Liverpool skipper as the best he’s played with.
Arne Slot must have breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that Virgil Van Dijk put pen to paper on a new Liverpool contract.
The skipper’s commitment instantly improves the Premier League champion’s chances of retaining their title next season with the Reds boss knowing that his defence can get the fine tuning it needs with his best centre-half still around.
New signings will always need time to bed in and Van Dijk’s status as a generational great will be a godsend, even if one international teammate doesn’t rate him quite as high.
Justin Kluivert names the best he’s played with and it isn’t Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk
Speaking to The Rest is Football podcast, Justin Kluivert, capped five times by the Netherlands, has given his run down of the top players that he has played with, with Van Dijk, far too low on his list: “Let me talk about, I always ask this of guests, the best players you've played with over your career, and then we'll come to Bournemouth's players,” Gary Lineker asked.
“Frankie De Jong, yeah. For me, he's amazing. He's just amazing,” said Kluivert.
“Was that at Ajax?” Replied Lineker. “Yeah, at Ajax, just amazing.”
“Could you see that he was going to be a top player?”
“Yeah, for sure, for sure. No doubt. I always said Matthijs de Ligt, who I played with, just amazing. From the age of 16, he was at Ajax, just phenomenal. A young captain already at Ajax.”
“So, Matthijs de Ligt?” Lineker checked with Kluivert not sure who to pick.
“Frankie de Jong. But I also played with legends like Edin Dzeko. For me, yeah, real professional, real leader, I would say. And just scored goals for fun. And so that's something special, for sure.
“But I've played with... I've played with Virgil van Dijk, yeah. I could name a lot of players. The international side. No, just a lot of amazing players, you know.”
How good has Van Dijk been over the last 10 years?
As a forward, Dzeko is an understandable name for Kluivert to drop, also, he is one of the best strikers of the modern era and is still scoring goals and causing problems for opposition defenders with his 40th birthday not far away.
De Jong is also understandable, but it looks like Kluivert has sided with a mate in De Ligt who has struggled for both fitness and form since leaving Ajax. He certainly isn’t on the same imperious level as Van Dijk.
De Ligt isn’t solely responsible for Man Utd’s lowly league position, but put it another way. Would Utd be in such a mess with Van Dijk at the heart of their defence?
In the last 10 years, no Dutch player has been as successful as Van Dijk or had such an influence at club level either and few players in European football will be as difficult to replace. It is a problem that Liverpool might be addressing having been linked with Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal of Rennes. The next Van Dijk? Players are called legends for a reason.
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