“But as I said, he’s the master of his own destiny, and the fact that he will be a free agent in the summer if there’s no new deal on the tail from Liverpool means he can probably have his pick of where he wants to continue his career.”
Liverpool HAVE to offer Virgil van Dijk a new deal?
Van Dijk is still largely unmatched in the world game, with Andoni Iraola unlikely to want anyone else at the back if it were the Champions League final tomorrow.
He may now be 35, and perhaps not at the all-time great level he was at five or six years ago, but he is still arguably the first name on the Reds’ team sheet, and Jamie Carragher recently discussed his legendary status:
“I’m talking like Stevie [Steven Gerrard], Kenny Dalglish, [Graeme] Souness, Alan Hansen, John Barnes, Mo Salah, the top sort of seven or eight players. Without a doubt he is right in the middle of that. And he’s not at the bottom of the list, I can assure you. He will go down as one of the greatest players ever to play for Liverpool – not one of the greatest centre-backs, one of the greatest players.”
Frankly, offering Van Dijk a new contract is a no-brainer for Liverpool, and he is still hopefully happy at Anfield, wanting to extend his stay for another few years.
Eventually, the time will come when he doesn’t look like the same player and an exit makes sense, but that time isn’t now.
