Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard has been singing the praises of Virgil van Dijk.
The Netherlands international joined the Reds for £75 million from Southampton a little over four years ago.
And in that time, he he has helped Liverpool to a Champions League and Premier League title.
Individually, he has also reiterated his status as arguably the world’s finest central defender.
And the Aston Villa manager has described him as ‘out of this world’.
He told Gary Neville on The Overlap, when asked what current Premier League player he’d have liked to play with: “Defensive wise, I think Virgil’s just out of this world.”
Salah isn’t the only star player
The phrase ‘out of this world’ would most commonly be associated with Mohamed Salah.
He’s definitely the star of this Liverpool team but the club’s hierarchy need to remember that they do have other stars, like Van Dijk.
And that’s important to mention because if the Reds bow to Salah’s contract demands and give him £400,000, how do you keep other players like Van Dijk happy when their time comes to discuss an extension?
The big Dutchman is the Salah of Jurgen Klopp’s defence and without him they’re just a totally different outfit for the wrong reasons, highlighted just this week when Benfica scored three Champions League goals at Anfield.
Van Dijk doesn’t get the same headlines, but he’s just as important as his Egyptian teammate and that’s why Salah’s contract wrangle is such a difficult one.
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