Jurgen Klopp offered his thoughts to Gary Neville about Virgil van Dijk after Liverpool beat Wolves.
Jurgen Klopp told Gary Neville that Virgil van Dijk is a better player than he first thought following Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolves on Friday night.
The Merseyside club signed Van Dijk last January from Southampton for a world record fee of £75 million.
Since his arrival, Van Dijk has helped his new club to the Champions League final and now the summit of the Premier League table as they head into Christmas.
After the win at Wolves, Gary Neville asked Klopp whether Van Dijk is a better player than he first thought as his team have only conceded seven goals by Christmas, which is the joint Premier League record held by Chelsa from the mid-noughties.
“Yes, together with all the boys around he is much better. But that helps him as well,” Klopp told Sky Sports’ Premier League football channel on 21/12/2018 at 10:15 pm.
“This afternoon, I had time being in the hotel. I watched on youtube, that’s the game when Liverpool pretty much wanted Sadio Mane. And he (Van Dijk) played in that game and we had one philosophy. 3-2 (to Southampton) after being 2-0 up, I couldn’t remember that he played that game.
“It was not that he was outstanding all the time, he had to improve and he’s still improving. He’s an outstanding player, he helps so much and you see how we do it around him, the two 6’s again and how they did it.”
Van Dijk has been an ever-present for Klopp in the Premier League this season, with the likes of Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren playing alongside him at the heart of the club’s defence.
Against Wolves, Lovren played alongside Van Dijk, with popular left-back Andy Robertson playing in his natural position and the versatile James Milner filling in at right-back for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold.
At this moment in time, Liverpool hold a four-point lead on their title rivals Manchester City, who host Crystal Palace at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon.
The duo will meet in the new year in Manchester, but before then, they will have to see off a busy and crucial festive period.
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