Robbie Savage held his hands up and admitted that he was wrong to doubt that Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk could end up being seen as one of the best players in the world.
Chris Sutton named the Reds centre-back as the third-best player in the world behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in an article for BBCÂ Sport in October 2018, and got some backlash for his belief.
When discussing Van Dijk being named UEFA’s Male Player of the Year, ahead of Messi and Ronaldo, Savage suggested he was one of those who doubted Sutton’s opinion of the Reds defender and admitted he was wrong to do so in hindsight.
“I got it wrong, you were right Christopher, well done,” said Savage on BT Sport’s Early Kick-Off (10:31am, Saturday, 31st of August).
“I didn’t think he was that good…(Sutton claims Savage never looks at the bigger picture).
“You may have a point, Christopher, there.”
OPINION
It takes a big man to admit when they’re wrong, so fair play to Savage for admitting he never envisioned Van Dijk being rated so highly. Yet Savage clearly isn’t the only one to have underestimated how good Van Dijk could be, as normally defenders don’t end up getting the same plaudits as attackers. This is generally because of the old cliche that goals win games, so it is nice that a defender such as Van Dijk is having his praises sung left, right and centre. The 28-year-old centre-back had a phenomenal 2018/19 campaign so the praise is warranted as he played a key part in the Reds finishing second in the Premier League as well as helped them win the Champions League trophy. Van Dijk averaged a rating of 7.44 across his 38 league outings, won 4.8 aerial duels per game (Source: WhoScored), and helped his side rack up 20 clean sheets (Source: Premier League). In the Champions League, the centre-back averaged a rating of 7.08 across his 12 outings, scored two goals and registered two assists while winning 3.4 aerial duels per game (Source: WhoScored).
