The return of Virgil van Dijk

VIRGIL VAN DIJK’S BIG RETURN

Perhaps the Netherlands’ chances of winning Euro 2020 ended in the same moment that Liverpool’s defence of their Premier League title did: on October 17, with Jordan Pickford’s reckless lunge on Virgil van Dijk at Goodison Park.

A cruciate ligament injury sidelined the seemingly indestructible colossus, nudging Jurgen Klopp towards a natural conclusion. “Every team in the world would miss Virgil van Dijk,” the German said a few days later, oblivious of the true horrors that were about to unfold without his transformative stopper.

There was no hyperbole involved – if anything, it turned out to be something of an understatement. With Van Dijk, Liverpool had only leaked 22 league goals in 2018- 19; largely without him, they conceded 42 last season, even if the anomaly was that seven came against Aston Villa in what remains Van Dijk’s last 90 minutes for Liverpool.

Without him, though, and then Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, the Anfield side had so many central- defensive partnerships that Klopp lost count. It was 20 in an exhausting season when Liverpool’s best centre- back, Fabinho, also happened to be their best

VAN DIJK HAS ONLY EVER LOST ONCE AT ANFIELD – WHEN HE WAS TURNING OUT FOR SOUTHAMPTON

defensive midfielder; when losing Van Dijk disrupted an entire playing style. Liverpool’s front- foot football was feasible because they had the most authoritative, coolly reassuring insurance policy of all. The side with the best centre- back in last season’s Premier League, Ruben Dias, cruised to the title as Klopp’s hastily assembled pair of rookies – Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips – performed a minor miracle by helping Liverpool qualify for the Champions League.

Now Van Dijk is nearing the end of what he called a “very, very long road”, and the context will change. Liverpool have already got their belated Dejan Lovren replacement, in the £ 36 million Ibrahima Konaté. The 22- year- old recruited from Leipzig may prove to be Van Dijk’s long- term successor; in the immediate future, the Frenchman should at least benefit from his new team- mate’s remarkable capacity to make any and all of his sidekicks look better.

Van Dijk’s status as the great catalyst is reflected in results. Liverpool’s first league title for three decades came with him as the cornerstone of their defence. They have only lost five of his last 82 league games, while his only Premier League defeat at Anfield came in Southampton’s colours; without him, Liverpool lost six in a row at home in their bleak midwinter. He was so good that Jamie Carragher, himself among Liverpool’s finest ever defenders, said he couldn’t lace Van Dijk’s boots as a centre- back.

Now he’s back. Whether that’s enough for Liverpool to instantly get back on their perch remains to be seen. But he’s done it once...