Jamie Redknapp heaped praise on Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and shared the Reds will hope he gives his side the edge over Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title.
The Sky Sports pundit implied that Man City do not have a player who is equivalent to Van Dijk before hailing the Reds player as the best defender in the world.
Redknapp then added that despite being covered in accolades in his latest campaign and helping Liverpool win the Champions League, the 28-year-old centre-back will be craving more success.
“Manchester City may be the best team we’ve seen in the Premier League but they do not have Van Dijk,” wrote Redknapp in his club by club guide pullout for the Daily Mail (page 13, Saturday, August 3rd).
“The Dutchman is the best defender in the world and Liverpool, now European champions will hope that gives them the edge over City this season.
“Van Dijk, like his manager, will not want to stand still.
“He has had a taste of success and will be craving more.
“He won the Premier League’s Player of the Year award, and was man of the match in the Champions League final, but that is not enough.
“He will now want to take the title from City.”
OPINION
Redknapp is clearly in awe of Van Dijk as he seems to believe that he could play a major difference in the race for the Premier League title. Based on how impressive the centre-back was last season, then it’s easy to see where the pundit is coming from. Van Dijk played 38 times in the league in his latest campaign, averaging a rating of 7.44 (Source: WhoScored), and impressively won 4.8 aerial duels per game as well as had a pass completion rate of 89.7%. If that wasn’t enough the 28-year-old also contributed four goals and two assists in order to help the Reds finish second in the Premier League. Van Dijk, who helped the Reds register 20 clean sheets in his 38 league appearances (Source: Premier League), is clearly an asset to Jurgen Klopp but it’s fair to say that he alone can’t guide Liverpool to their first-ever Premier League title. However, luckily for Van Dijk when you consider he has teammates as good as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, then the Reds have a very good shot of beating Man City to the league title in the upcoming season.
