Jamie Carragher thinks Virgil van Dijk could go down as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players if he can help lead the club to silverware.
There were a number of eyebrows raised when Liverpool agreed to pay Southampton £75 million last January, a fee which smashed the previous world-record fee for a defender. However, with Liverpool’s defence having previously been somewhat of an accident waiting to happen, it is seeming like money well spent, with the Dutchman bringing a sense of calm and authority to the back line.
He was imperious in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, helping the Reds to their second clean sheet of the season, and earning himself a place in our Team of the Week, and former Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher thinks that if the Reds can go on to win major honours in the coming season, Van Dijk should be rated among some of the clubs best ever defenders:
“I knew he was a good player, he’s better than I thought since he came in,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“Over the next three or four years, if Liverpool could win a league, a Champions League, something like that, I think Virgil van Dijk has got the potential to actually go down alongside Alan Hansen if you’re talking about Liverpool’s best ever teams.
“I think that’s how good he is and how good he will become.
“They will have to be successful, of course they would.
“But that’s how big I think a difference that player has made.
“Tonight is the reason, and maybe games in the future, why he (Klopp) spent £75m on Van Dijk.”