Van Dijk’s Important Role behind Liverpool’s Success

DBasia.news – Virgil van Dijk has been one of the keys to Liverpool’s success in recent seasons. Not only in the field, the changing room also became the witness that Van Dijk had a big impact.

The Liverpool center back joined from Southampton for 75 million eur in the 2017 winter transfer window. In the first half of the season, Van Dijk helped the Reds reach the Champions League final.

Afterwards Van Dijk’s solidity in the back line led Liverpool to win the Champions League last season. The Red also finished as runner-up of English League after giving fierce resistance to the defending champion Manchester City until the last week.

At the individual level, Van Dijk was rewarded with the PFA Player of the Year award and finished second at the Ballon d’Or and 2019 FIFA Player of the Year. While this season, Van Dijk had a big influence on Liverpool’s fast pace in the league so that it was on the verge of winning the first title in 30 years.

“What the hell did he not bring? I can’t speak more highly of him as a player,” Liverpool midfielder and captain Jordan Henderson told BT Sport. “Of course, everyone knows how great he is and what he has done for the past few years as a team.”

“He has won individual awards and it is appropriate. He is an outstanding defender, an extraordinary player. But for me, he brought something big off the field.”

“I cannot speak more highly of him off the pitch and what kind of person he is. He is extraordinary, a great leader to have in the dressing room and he has given everyone a big boost from the first minute he came,” said the Liverpool captain.

“Every day it’s nice to be near him, [he] always smiles in a good mindset and he has had a big impact in the dressing room and on the pitch since he joined the club. He did a lot of things well, which is exemplary and I’m happy for him [with] how he performed and got all the awards because it was appropriate and he deserves everything he can now. “