Kolo Toure has lavished praise on Virgil van Dijk but has named one potential weakness in the ‘unbelievable’ Liverpool defender’s game.
Van Dijk has established himself as arguably the best centre-back in world football since moving to Liverpool two-and-a-half years ago, winning the Champions League and Premier League during his time on Merseyside and being named as the PFA Player’s Player of the Year last season.
The Netherlands international has formed part of a Reds side which has held the Premier League’s best defensive record in both of the last two seasons, and former Liverpool defender Toure has lauded Van Dijk’s abilities.
Toure, however, explained where he feels Van Dijk can be exposed by opposition attackers, believing forwards should aggressively challenge the 29-year-old in one-on-one situations.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” Toure told Stats Perform News. “He’s a top player. He’s got speed, height, he can jump. He’s got technique. He can switch the game with his long passes. He has got everything.
“I haven’t seen many players challenge him one on one. In my opinion, that’s his weakness! He’s really tall and if you really attack him with the ball, he can struggle, but he’s so clever.
“He’s so clever because he drops well, but if you are really aggressive in attack in a one-on-one, I think you can get something from him.
“He’s a really clever player. He’s got [Joe] Gomez on his side, good players on his side to help him as well. There are good players around him and I think that makes his game easy, but I think he’s got so many qualities.”
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