VIRGIL VAN DIJK

LIVERPOOL Netherlands

BY JAMIE CARRAGHER

“John Terry was the best centre-back I’ve ever seen in the Premier League, and even he had a weakness: his lack of pace. He wasn’t caught often – he read the game brilliantly – but the greatest defender I saw didn’t tick every box. Virgil van Dijk does. When he is finished at Liverpool, I’m sure he’ll be considered the best central defender in Premier League history.

“Virgil is blessed with great physical attributes I didn’t have – size, power, pace – but that also applies to lots of centre-backs who haven’t played anywhere near as well. He has the brain and technical quality to go with it, and that’s what makes him special. He reminds me of Steven Gerrard as a player. People asked me, ‘What was Stevie’s biggest strength?’, and it was that he didn’t have a weakness. Van Dijk is quick, powerful, dominant in the air and he can play with the ball. There’s no part of his game where I feel, ‘He is lacking in that area’, and that’s the highest praise I can possibly give him.

“Van Dijk has been the world’s best central defender for about 18 months. I’ve stopped short of saying that before because he hadn’t won a big trophy, as Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique had. Winning the Champions League doesn’t automatically make him a better player, but when you’re talking about someone being the best in their position, you need to have won something quite big. There’s no doubt then; no grey area. It confirms it.

“Brilliant centre-backs make the players around them better. You don’t need superstars in every position on the pitch; a back four works as a unit. A lot more of it is about organisation, communication and just working together, rather than flashes of brilliance. With Virgil, everybody feels a lot better – almost like a dad looking after the kids. People within the club always say that he is a very cool customer; that he doesn’t seem to get too emotional, as some defenders do. He stays collected.

“I think the biggest shock is just how good Virgil has been at Anfield. We knew he was a very good player at Southampton, but his levels since seem to have gone up four-fold, as a combination of working with Jurgen Klopp, playing with better team-mates and mentally moving up a level. Things are a lot more serious. Every game counts and trophies are at stake.

“Players like Virgil rub off on others. Liverpool players will look up to him and respect him, like the way we did with Stevie. When things aren’t going well, team-mates look to these leaders for inspiration: ‘Maybe we’ll be all right – he’s there…’ That’s what I always wanted people to think about me – although I’m not sure if they did!”

Jamie Carragher’s ‘23 Foundation’ recently celebrated a decade of supporting local children around Merseyside through local charities, clubs and community initiatives