Tim Sherwood has lauded Virgil van Dijk after his performance for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final win against Chelsea on Sunday.
Given the injuries to Liverpool’s squad, it meant that Jurgen Klopp had to play a number of young stars, with the likes of Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Darwin Nunez and Joel Matip missing.
Bearing that in mind, Tim Sherwood praised Virgil van Dijk for the role he played at Wembley and how he was ‘immense’ before going on to score the eventual winner, as he told Premier League Productions (26/02/24 at 2:05 pm).
The former midfielder added that the 32-year-old is a ‘manager’s dream’ and shared how ‘no one wanted to take a risk on him’ when Liverpool first signed him.
In January 2018, after struggling to sign him the previous summer, the Reds waited to pay a record fee for the centre-back’s talents from Southampton.
Since then, Jurgen Klopp has watched his team lift every trophy possible, including Champions League glory in Madrid.
Virgil van Dijk has played a huge part in it all, as he will do again during these coming months as his manager heads for the exit door, with Tim Sherwood just loving what he brings to the table.
Virgil van Dijk’s signing for Liverpool
“I’m happy to see Virgil (score), I think he was immense and I love to see good players prevail,” said Sherwood.
“Virgil van Dijk is a dream for any young kid. He doesn’t look like ‘I am going to do my job, no, I am going to look after you. I am going to do the job for you’. He is telling them boys to push on in there and do what you are good at, don’t cover me up, I can deal with it. He looks after them
“You can’t be good as a young player if you haven’t got good teachers, and the teacher isn’t necessarily from the sidelines, it has to come from within the team. I think van Dijk is an absolute manager’s dream.
“It’s the manager, he needs to take all the credit. It’s alright buying £70 million Virgil van Dijk, no one else wanted to take a risk on him, but Liverpool did. Everyone looked at him when he was at Celtic and then Southampton took the opportunity to take him. Rehearsed in the Premier League. Liverpool decided to take him and he is getting the best out of him. He is looking like a £70 million player.”
Liverpool pushing for the quadruple
Two years ago, Liverpool were in a similar situation and ended up lifting the two domestic cups – League Cup and FA Cup, missing out on the title on the final day and losing the Champions League final.
But given that this is Klopp’s farewell, then there seems to be that extra bit of motivation in the air for the team to end on a high for their legendary coach.
Winning the League Cup has certainly got the ball rolling, but there are still plenty of more ups and downs to come.
But before they can go again, their big-name players need to return to action because Liverpool simply won’t be able to get over other trophy lines with an injury-hit squad.
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