There’s no pressure being a Klopp star

Van Dijk: Fans might have high expectations... but ours are higher

VIRGIL VAN DIJK insists the only pressure on Liverpool comes from the players’ own ambitions.

There has been a huge amount of hype around the squad following a summer transfer spree which made the club the highest spenders in the Premier League. That sparked an even greater weight of hope and expectation among fans, with the Anfield crowd in Sunday’s win over West Ham reflecting that passionate desire to see an end to a 28-year wait for the league title. Boss Jurgen Klopp has cautioned against getting too carried away, rating Manchester City still as overwhelming favourites and the Reds as underdogs.

But Van Dijk (left) told how outside pressures were not a concern – because the team’s expectations were even higher.

“Of course, we want to challenge,” said the Holland centre-back. “I don’t feel any pressure in that case but we play every game to win, that’s how our mind-set is.

“The most important thing is we look at ourselves. We know right now we’ve a great squad. We’ve a lot of quality players. Everyone who plays for Liverpool has a lot of quality.

“It’s all about being consistent. We want to challenge for any competition. But we must look at ourselves, not anything else.

“We want to achieve greater things so we need to be ready for any challenge, any battle that comes to us.”

Van Dijk has played a huge part in transforming the weight of expectation surrounding Liverpool. Since he arrived, no defender has kept more clean sheets in the Premier League than his eight.

And Liverpool have not conceded a league goal at Anfield since a 4-1 win over West Ham in February.

That coincided with Van Dijk’s arrival from Southampton for £75million, a world record for a defender, and his gradual return to full fitness.

The 27-year-old believes there is far more to come from the Reds, particularly with the capture of £66.8m goalkeeper Alisson for another – albeit briefly-held – world record fee.

“He’s very good,” said Van Dijk. “We speak a lot. He’s very vocal and that helps. It helps me and everyone in the back line. I think his presence is very good too.

“He has a lot of qualities on the ball that helps us playing. We have worked on it the whole pre-season and we’ll keep practising. There’s still a lot to do.

“We had a good pre-season with good results and games where we’ve played very well. But we can do a lot better and it’s just the start.

“I think the key is we need to be very consistent and do it every game.”

Klopp will consider offers for Ragnar Klavan, even though he would ideally like to keep the 32-year-old defender, who was signed from Augsburg two years ago. The Estonia centre-half wants more game-time after slipping down the pecking order at Anfield.

Simon Mignolet’s agent has indicated Napoli are interested in the Liverpool reserve keeper, and suggested talks with the Italian club will go ahead in the next few days.