Speaking to Liverpool’s official website, Rhys Williams has lavished praise upon Joel Matip, even going as far as to compare him to Virgil van Dijk.
The young centre-back was asked to speak about the other defenders at the club, and while he had great things to say about the likes of Joe Gomez, Fabinho and Nat Phillips, it was his comments on Matip that really caught the eye.
“Joel is a great talker. He’s similar to Virg in some ways with the way he is on the ball, he picks a great pass as well. I think he’s a great aerial threat off corners, not a lot beats him, so I’ve tried to take a bit of that into my game because sometimes my positioning off corners, I could be a bit more front foot and attack it – I’ve seen that’s what he’s been doing,” Williams said.
“I’m enjoying playing next to him. He talks a great game as well, so that helps.”
Matip’s talents have really been on show in recent weeks, and you can’t really disagree with Williams’ comments here.
Of course, very few defenders in football history can compare to the ability of Virgil van Dijk, but saying Matip is van Dijk-esque is probably a fair assessment in some ways.
Interestingly, Williams seems to be slightly modelling his game on Matip, which is good to see as he’s clearly learning from the more senior players in the squad, and when you’re playing in one of the best teams in the world that’s exactly what a young player should be doing.
Liverpool were always going to struggle to replace van Dijk, but the likes of Matip and Williams have kept the Reds in a commanding position in the Premier League.
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