Michael Owen heaped praise on Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk for helping to improve the side’s defence.
The retired forward shared that his former side had been plagued by defensive problems for years but went on to say that the 26-year-old enforcer’s arrival had led to an immediate improvement in that area.
“Liverpool have been growing as a team little by little during the last few years and now they’re very strong,” said Owen in an interview with Marca.
“For several years they had a good attack but were very bad in defence, and now they are improving in that facet.
“Van Dijk is a player at a very high level, his arrival has helped a lot, it seems to me that Liverpool will be among the best teams in Europe during these coming few years.
“They won the Champions League in 2005, but didn’t have a particularly good team, for me, this team is better than the one that won it, and I think it will return Liverpool to the top table of European football.”
Van Dijk arrived at Anfield in January from Southampton and has made 21 appearances, scoring one goal, in his Reds career so far.
OPINION
It’s some praise to suggest that the 26-year-old centre-back has helped improve an issue that has caused the Reds issues for the last few years. It shows how highly Owen rates van Dijk and it’s easy to see why he has this view point. It might be very early days in the enforcer’s Anfield career but he has already established himself as a key player at the club. In fact it borders on unthinkable to imagine how Jurgen Klopp’s side would fare without the defender in their team anytime soon, as his presence is a reassuring one. Owen also goes on to make a very interesting claim about the Reds’ overall team. The former Reds forward believes the current starting eleven is better than the one that was regularly taking to the field in 2005, when the Reds lifted the Champions League. While it’s a little harsh on a team that left such a memorable mark at Anfield, due to winning the prestigious trophy, it’s easy to see what he means.