{"id":1141824,"date":"2026-08-10T16:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1141824\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T16:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:09:22","slug":"how-ageless-wonder-virgil-van-dijk-holds-the-key-to-new-look-liverpools-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1141824\/","title":{"rendered":"How ageless wonder Virgil van Dijk holds the key to new-look Liverpool\u2019s season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While Ronald Araujo was undergoing his medical<\/a>, Liverpool <\/a>only actually had one fit senior centre-back on their books. And he, typically, was the oldest of the lot. Virgil van Dijk<\/a> may have made an inauspicious start to his pre-season, conceding a penalty in Sunday\u2019s 3-2 defeat to Monaco<\/a>, but Liverpool\u2019s 35-year-old marathon man pronounced himself ready to go again this year.<\/p>\n

Van Dijk is conscious of his age, which feels more notable when two of Liverpool\u2019s other three main central defenders are 19 and 21 respectively, in Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet. The Dutchman did not gravitate to Anfield until he was 26, but hopes that starting late will extend his career.<\/p>\n

It has already brought 731 games for clubs and country, but the most remarkable numbers came last season. No footballer in Europe\u2019s top five leagues played more minutes than Van Dijk: some 6,121, including 4,941 for Liverpool. He did not miss a minute in their Premier League<\/a> campaign, nor in the Netherlands\u2019 World Cup. <\/p>\n

\"VirgilVirgil van Dijk played more minutes than any other man in Europe\u2019s top five league last season (Getty)<\/p>\n

With Leoni and Jacquet yet to feature in pre-season, with Joe Gomez injured<\/a>, Liverpool could rely again on Van Dijk, even with Araujo set to join on loan from Barcelona. He is prepared for another heavy workload. \u201cAre you going to say I\u2019m 35 years old and I can\u2019t do it?\u201d he asked. \u201cAt the end of the day, you have to look after yourself. You have to be, I wouldn\u2019t say lucky, but you have to do everything in your power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the bare minimum for me because I feel the responsibility to be ready for each and every game. We play every three days. Between games, at home, at the training ground, you have to do everything in your power to be ready to play again. For me, I feel good. I am also a late bloomer so you know, maybe… it is what it is. I feel fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which may be a relief. When, for once, Van Dijk requested time off, it was to sit out friendlies on the other side of the Atlantic. Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak also exited the World Cup in the last 32 and returned to the United States for the end of the pre-season tour.<\/p>\n

\"VanVan Dijk was part of the Netherlands side that lost in the last 32 of the World Cup (Getty)\"AndAnd then took some time off afterwards, including going to Wimbledon for the tennis (Getty)<\/p>\n

Van Dijk did not. \u201cI definitely asked for a good break because I felt like I needed it, not only physically but mentally as well. It was a very demanding year from before pre-season started last year until the day I got knocked out of the World Cup,\u201d he said. \u201cI had maybe three days more than Ryan, Flo and Alex. I didn\u2019t want to go to America because I didn\u2019t want to get jet lag.\u201d Instead, he had a couple of extra days at Liverpool\u2019s training ground.<\/p>\n

As it is, a return to duty has been busy. He has met Jacquet, a prospective centre-back partner now Ibrahima Konate is gone. \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to him,\u201d he said of the Frenchman. \u201cI\u2019ve seen him walking around and we have conversations. I can\u2019t wait to see him back on the pitch and I hope that happens very, very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first outing of the campaign came alongside the teenager Ifeanyi Ndukwe. \u201cBig talent, big guy,\u201d he said of the 18-year-old Austrian who, unfortunately for Liverpool, does not yet qualify for a work permit. \u201cThe matter of fact is that he has to go on loan,\u201d Van Dijk added. \u201cLet\u2019s see where he ends up.\u201d<\/p>\n

That increases the need to seal the loan move for Araujo. \u201cAny player that will arrive to the club, we will be welcoming,\u201d said the Dutchman. Liverpool\u2019s squad looks slender at the moment. There may have been too few newcomers in the dressing room but there is one in the dugout<\/a>, in Andoni Iraola. Van Dijk takes his responsibilities as captain seriously and extended the same offer to the Spaniard that he did to his predecessor. <\/p>\n

\"VanVan Dijk (left) made his preseason bow for Liverpool against Monaco over the weekend (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great conversation in the first week when it got announced and the main thing for him to know is that I am here for him regardless: anything he needs, wants to know, wants me to do for the team, I am here for him,\u201d he said. \u201cI liked working under Arne [Slot] and I am sure I will like working under the new manager.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah going, Liverpool could have a younger team, making Van Dijk more of an anomaly. \u201cIt definitely feels like a bit of a transition, for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is down to everyone associated with Liverpool to make sure we are building something that will be successful for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last season of his contract, nearer his 40th birthday than his 30th, Van Dijk may not be there for years to come, but the late bloomer is determined to remain in flower deep into the autumn of his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1141826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,17733,22690,47671,292606,393,310548,1512,19560,75473,4884,310543,44888,70433,252298,179,47681,2132,126443,6489,310545,166839,147743,59502,1477,310547,310546,310542,283377,310544,2249,87919,252301,10031,252297,93,252847,16,15,1465,255559],"class_list":["post-1141824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-britain","tag-celebration","tag-cody-gakpo","tag-color-image","tag-competition-round","tag-england","tag-estadio-bbva-bancomer","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-great-britain","tag-guadalupe-nuevo-leon","tag-horizontal","tag-international-match","tag-international-team-soccer","tag-liverpool","tag-match-sport","tag-mexico","tag-monterrey","tag-morocco","tag-morocco-national-soccer-team","tag-morocco-national-team","tag-motion","tag-national-team","tag-netherlands","tag-netherlands-national-soccer-team","tag-netherlands-national-team","tag-nuevo-leon","tag-number-11","tag-number-4","tag-photography","tag-scoring","tag-scoring-a-goal","tag-soccer","tag-soccer-player","tag-sport","tag-sports-team","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-virgil-van-dijk","tag-world-sports-championship"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1141826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}