Then there was a long uncertainty with the future leaders of the team-Trenota Alexander-Arnold, Mohammed Salah and Virgin Van Daic. Egyptian many times spoke in an interview about the desire to continue the contract with the Reds and, after all, received his agreement. However, the defenders remained without new contracts.
Trent does not comment on the situation with his future. It is done by Spanish and English media for him, according to which the Mersiside pet will leave the club for free and go to Madrid “Real Madrid”. These were sad news for Liverpool fans, but were good.
The first is the continuation of the contract with Salah. Mohammed has been 32 years old, but he is probably spending the best season in his career. There is no doubt that he will be able to perform at a high level for several years. The second nice news for the Red fans is that the club continued the contract with Van Daic. And this is really a good event.
All season, everyone discussed the future of Salah, thinking where he would continue his career if he leaves the Mersiside. Trenota’s situation and its possible transition to Real Madrid were also widely discussed. Little was talked about Van Daic. Virgin himself kept calm and called for this fans. Nobody panicked about the Dutch.
The team captain had no new contract for most of the season, but Liverpool was kept calm. Everyone seemed to know that sooner or later the parties would continue the agreement. As a result, it turned out. Continuation of the Van Daic contract is no less important than Salah’s new agreement, since Virjil is the same key player for the team.
No one diminishes the value of Van Deika for Liverpool, but they are talked about little. Virjil appears in the news much less often than Trent or Salah. This is understandable, because Mohammed is constantly in sight, scores many heads and so on, but the contribution of the Dutchman to the success of the “red” is also huge. After the transition from Southampton in January 2018 for 84 million euros, the 33-year-old Central Beck played 315 matches for Mersiside and scored 27 goals.
With him, Liverpool has almost 70% of victories, without it – 53.2%. With Van Daic on the Red field, there are less than one ball per match, without it – a goal or more. Following Liverpool, Virjil won 161 matches in the Premier League. More only in Andrew Robertson (163) and Salah (174). All the APL has more victories in Bernard Silva (172) and Ederson (183).
Before becoming the leader of the team, the Dutchman became the leader of the Red Defense. After Raphael Benitez Mersisidetsi, 7 seasons were missed by 40 or more heads in the Premier League. In the first campaign of Jurgen Klopp, they missed 50 goals, in the next-42. After that, Van Dyk came to Liverpool, which pulled the “red” in the 4th place in the APL for missed goals (38).
For the first time in a long time, the Mersisidians missed less than 40 goals per campaign, while Virjil spent only half the season in the team. It was even better. In the following 2 seasons, Liverpool was the best Premier League team in defense (22 and 33 missed goals).
The Dutchman seriously strengthened the protection of the Reds and brought him to a new level. Almost immediately after moving to Enfield, he became a key player in the defense of the team. This is confirmed by the fact that in the 2020/21 season, which Van Deik missed because of a serious injury, Mersiside again missed more than 40 goals.
In the next campaign, after the return of Virgin Liverpool, he missed only 26 goals, which again became the best indicator in the APL. Last season, the Reds took 3rd place in the Premier League on this indicator, despite 41 missed goals. In the current campaign, they go second, missing 31 balls and yielding only Arsenal (29).
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Van Dyk is always confident in himself and convey this confidence to partners. It is perfectly impossible to play defense, so it does not make tragedies from mistakes, but tries to correct them. In addition, vigil is much more successful than false. It wins 73% of martial arts, which is the best indicator among all field players of the APL.
The Dutchman is also the leader of the Premier League of successful duels in the air, winning 75.3% of these confrontations. The advantage over rivals in height and dimensions allows him not only to bear the ball after rivals, but also to lock such gears himself. Van Deik has already scored 18 goals with his head, which is the second best indicator in the history of APL among defenders. John Terry’s more heads (27).
Virgin is equally successful in both his and other gates, and is a good player. It performs more than 2 thousand gears per season with an accuracy of 91.7%. And he does not always fit only the goalkeeper or other defender. The Dutchman performs more than 800 gears forward to 80.2%.
Moreover, Liverpool leader often tries to develop the team attacks by performing 248 accurate transfers to the final third of the field. According to successful long broadcasts (129), he is inferior only to Fulgem’s defender Yakim Andersen (176). Therefore, Van Deik is not only useful in defense – it can threaten the opponent’s gates while still on his half of the field.
Virjil became Liverpool captain since 2023 after Jordan Genderson’s departure. Before that, he was the Vice-Kapitan of the Red. He was, in fact, the only candidate for this role. The Dutchman is not like his predecessor. He is not so talkative on the field and less emotional, but that is his advantage.
Van Dyk always radiates the confidence that is transmitted to his partners. Not for nothing Virjil claimed the Golden Ball in 2019 and then became the best player according to FIFA – the first and only one to the defenders. In July, the Dutch will be 34 years old, but he can give a lot to the team. “Red” made the right choice not only in the situation with Salah.
Cergiy Zavalko
Source: Sport.ua