Rafa Benitez has named Virgil van Dijk as the one current Liverpool player who he would have liked to have in his 2008/09 squad that finished as runners-up in the Premier League.
Liverpool boasted the likes of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Xavi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt among some of their star players in that season, just over 10 years ago.
However Benitez has admitted that if he would have liked one player from Jurgen Klopp’s side back in his squad back then, Dutch centre-back van Dijk would be the man that he would want.
“Van Dijk, he would help,” said Benitez on The Athletic website in a Q&A session on Wednesday. “Not because the others are good enough but because in this position he is maybe the best at the moment.
“We had Torres and Gerrard so we had lots of good attacking players, but as centre backs, although I was really pleased with my players, Van Dijk is maybe playing at another level now.”
OPINION
Van Dijk would have easily walked into that Liverpool team in 2008/09. Benitez had Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Sammi Hyppia as his centre-back options back then and while all of them were superb servants at Liverpool, none of them were described as world-class like van Dijk is on an almost weekly basis. Van Dijk could be winning the Balon d’Or for this year after a stunning season at Anfield. It’s so rare for defensive players to win that award, so that just highlights how great a player he is. He’s also a Champions League winner and someone who has helped rescue the Dutch national team from their rut to take them to the Nations League final in the summer. Van Dijk is turning every team he plays for into potential world-beaters. Let’s see later this year if Liverpool can actually live up to that tag and lift the Club World Cup to go with their Champions League title.
