Virgil van Dijk

[fidget]

[Le Chef]

Beat Eve in April and I think we are there

[Doc_Piptorious]

I can see us struggling to finish top 4 without Van Dijk. Slot would have such a job to do.

Konate and Gomez are injured a lot. Van Dijk is almost always fit. We would need to bring in two players to replace him. PLus a new RB and LB. It could take a while to get the defence to mesh.

Also a new DM to replace Endo. Alison is injured every season so we have the new guy who aint been doing too well apparently.

Thats ignoring the work we need to do up front (I feel that is something that might have to wait a year).

That even ignores the question, who the **** comes in to replace him?

Out of all the defenders we have had the past 30 years, we have a had a lot of ****e, but the best ones were average in the air, or slow, or injured. That perfect defender can be ellusive. Thats ignoring the fact Virgil can play really well too (that would be secondary at this point).

At some point we are going to have to reolace VVD regardless of the contract situation so probably best to be looking for one (or more players) that can bring most of what he brings to the team unit than to be looking for someone as good as VVD.


One name (that would cost a lot) that springs to mind that has a lot of VVD traits to his game is Bastoni.

That's not saying Bastoni is as good as VVD (tbf if we are calling VVD the best in the world then everyone else is a downgrade), but he is certainly a world class centre back who is ultra calm, has a hell of a passing range (short and long), he an excellent defender and can marshall a back line.

Is best at LCB, but can also play to a high level at RCB, LB or as a sweeper.

Proven for club at domestic and CL level and proven at International level too.

Plus at 25 (26 this year) he should have years at the top level ahead of him.

[Charly]

IS he good in the air?

I feel like that is the minimum for a CB in this country.

[Doc_Piptorious]

IS he good in the air?

I feel like that is the minimum for a CB in this country.

I honestly cannot say for sure how good he is in the air. I have seen him win headers and all that, but so much of his game is about being in the right place at the right time to stop a run/win a ball/cut out a pass/block an avenue that he is usually in a position where he does not have to win a header.





The only time I have really noticed him doing well in the air is in the CL when up against German/English or eastern European teams (ones that put in crosses more than some other teams.

So from a tiny sample size of games against English clubs and others that go with a more physical approach in the box he seems to be able to more than hold his own arially even if he does not have to do it as much at domestic level.

The flip side of that though is do we risk running afoul of comparing every potential new CB to VVD or every new winger to peak Salah and so on?

Those guys are best in the world level players so logically no matter who you get to follow them, it will be a downgrade of some sort.


Think what we need to be looking at are guys who bring some or a lot of the same qualities but that through linking up with others within the team will ensure the unit is as good as ever even if some of the individual parts are not as brilliant on their own.

[Mark79]

[ame]https://twitter.com/HKhaliqueLoonat/status/1909201137854447939[/ame]

[Kenneth]

What's the update?

[Buzzo]

Article behind paywall but there are ways around that

“There is progress, yeah,” Van Dijk, 33, said when asked if there had been any change in his contract status.

When asked whether the “progress” meant he would remain at the club, he said, “I don’t know, we’ll see,” before reaffirming the importance of finishing the season strongly.

“I love the club, I love the fans and today they were there for us again and we wanted to reward them, but I want them to be there again on Sunday and make the stadium an amazing venue, like always, for us.”

Liverpool had a soft rule of not extending contracts for players over the age of 30 when Michael Edwards was the club’s sporting director between 2016 and 2022. He returned to Liverpool in a more senior role last summer, when he was named chief executive of football at Fenway Sports Group, the club’s owner.

Contract negotiations are now being handled by Richard Hughes, the club’s sporting director — appointed in the spring last year — who recommended Van Dijk to Edwards when the defender was at Celtic.

[Kenneth]

The audio of it

https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/KkosCt5wRd

[Buzzo]

Broadly speaking that sounds encouraging.

[BobTheCharmer]

I think it's pretty poor from the club captain to not get this put to bed. Trents a cunt for not signing, yet the other two get away relatively scot free from fans. If you want to stay, say so. Then get it signed.

[Mark79]

Both Salah and Virgil have long made it publicly clear that they want to stay.

[baitman]

Both Salah and Virgil have long made it publicly clear that they want to stay.

But only on their terms, show me the money, keep the pressure on the club

[Mark79]

But only on their terms, show me the money, keep the pressure on the club

That’s fair enough. It’s their last big contract, they’re entitled to push for the best deal possible.

They could have invited interest from other clubs to bump their negotiations up.
They haven’t. They’ve both made their wishes to stay known to all.

[BobTheCharmer]

That’s fair enough. It’s their last big contract, they’re entitled to push for the best deal possible.

They could have invited interest from other clubs to bump their negotiations up.
They haven’t. They’ve both made their wishes to stay known to all.

As soon as title is sown up, I'd pull contract offers for both. Says thanks lads, but we just wanted to get the title before letting you go. That's our terms.