‘Not fast’: Aguero says Liverpool player is slower than everyone thinks he is

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The reason why Liverpool spent £75 million on Virgil van Dijk almost five years ago is because as a centre-back, he has everything.

Van Dijk has height, power, aerial ability, sublime range of passing, football intelligence and speed.

But that last attribute has been questioned today.

The Liverpool defender is known to be relatively speedy across the turf but according to Sergio Aguero, the big Dutchman is ‘not fast’.

The former Manchester City hitman was speaking to ESPN, as quoted by The Echo, ahead of seeing his native Argentina take on Van Dijk’s Netherlands in a World Cup quarter-final next week.

Aguero said: “He is not fast; he has long legs: 10 sprints from me are two from him. You have to distract him with something else… someone to yell at him from the stands. If I’m there, I’ll start talking to him there.

Whether Van Dijk boasts accelerates quickly or just eats up a lot of space due to bigger strides is relatively immaterial.

The fact is that the Liverpool powerhouse can make up a lot of ground in a quick time either way and therefore the likes of Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez will have to be wary of him.

Of course, Van Dijk will be wary of them too, but they aren’t the ones being written off by a national legend of Argentina football.