Virgil van Dijk became the most expensive defender of all time in January. Liverpool collected the Orange-international for 84.5 million euros to Anfield. The 26-year-old former player of Celtic and Southampton, among others, scored his debut in the FA Cup against rival Everton, but then faced a small setback. Van Dijk needed time to get used to the playing style of manager Jürgen Klopp. In conversation with the BBC, Van Dijk acknowledges that he had to make adjustments.
I get used to our style of playing now. The intensity of our way of playing is a lot higher than I was used to. Every day here is hard. I work very hard, run a lot and notice a big difference. I had to add a little bit, especially in the initial phase,”said Van Dijk, who actually wanted to go to Liverpool last summer. At the time, Southampton didn’t let him go, despite a transfer request.
Van Dijk was temporarily removed from the selection of Southampton. After a while he returned to the selection of manager Mauricio Pellegrino and finally returned to Anfield in January,”People don’t know what actually happened”, Van Dijk says,”I didn’t let me hear and continued playing. I had just sat on it for eight months and was happy to be able to play again for a long time. After the summer transfer period I converted the button. I haven’t thought of anything anymore until the moment I got a phone call from the club management of Southampton.
The transfer to Liverpool was started. On 5 January, Van Dijk already appeared in the base against the Toffees and made the winning goal in that competition,”It was a crazy and busy week. It was special, I will never forget that. I wouldn’t even start off against Everton “, says Van Dijk, who wants to achieve beautiful things at his new club. I am proud and happy to be here.
Virgil van Dijk is the best defender of the Netherlands
