Top News

While Ronald Araujo was undergoing his medical, Liverpool in reality had only one fit senior centre-back available in the squad. Typically, that player was also the oldest. Virgil van Dijk may have begun pre-season on an unconvincing note by giving away a penalty in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Monaco, but Liverpool’s 35-year-old iron man has made it clear that he is ready to go again this season.

Van Dijk is well aware of his age, something that stands out even more when two of Liverpool’s other three principal central defenders are only 19 and 21, namely Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet. The Dutch defender did not arrive at Anfield until he was 26, but he believes that beginning later at the highest level could help prolong his career.

That career has already stretched to 731 matches for club and country, but the most striking figures came last season. No player across Europe’s top five leagues logged more minutes than Van Dijk, totalling 6,121, of which 4,941 came for Liverpool. He played every single minute of their Premier League campaign and also every minute of the Netherlands’ World Cup run.

Virgil van Dijk played more minutes than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues last season.

With Leoni and Jacquet still not having featured in pre-season, and Joe Gomez injured, Liverpool may once again have to lean heavily on Van Dijk, even with Araujo expected to arrive on loan from Barcelona. The captain is ready for another demanding schedule. “Are you going to say I'm 35 years old and I can't do it?” he asked. “At the end of the day, you have to look after yourself. You have to be, I wouldn't say lucky, but you have to do everything in your power.

“That is the bare minimum for me because I feel the responsibility to be ready for each and every game. We play every three days. Between games, at home, at the training ground, you have to do everything in your power to be ready to play again. For me, I feel good. I am also a late bloomer so you know, maybe... it is what it is. I feel fine.”

That may come as a relief. On the rare occasion Van Dijk did ask for time off, it was so he could miss the friendlies being played on the other side of the Atlantic. Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak had also gone out of the World Cup in the last 32 and then returned to the United States for the final leg of the pre-season tour.

Van Dijk was part of the Netherlands side that were eliminated in the last 32 of the World Cup.

He then took some time away afterwards, including a visit to Wimbledon for the tennis.

Van Dijk did not. “I definitely asked for a good break because I felt like I needed it, not only physically but mentally as well. It was a very demanding year from before pre-season started last year until the day I got knocked out of the World Cup,” he said. “I had maybe three days more than Ryan, Flo and Alex. I didn’t want to go to America because I didn’t want to get jet lag.” Instead, he spent a couple of extra days at Liverpool’s training ground.

Even so, his return to work has been eventful. He has already met Jacquet, a possible future partner in central defence now that Ibrahima Konate has departed. “I've spoken to him,” he said of the French defender. “I've seen him walking around and we have conversations. I can't wait to see him back on the pitch and I hope that happens very, very soon.”

His first appearance of the campaign came alongside teenage defender Ifeanyi Ndukwe. “Big talent, big guy,” he said of the 18-year-old Austrian who, unfortunately for Liverpool, still does not qualify for a work permit. “The matter of fact is that he has to go on loan,” Van Dijk added. “Let’s see where he ends up.”

That only adds to Liverpool’s need to complete the loan move for Araujo. “Any player that will arrive to the club, we will be welcoming,” said the Dutchman. Liverpool’s squad currently appears light. There may not yet be many new faces in the dressing room, but there is one on the touchline in Andoni Iraola. Van Dijk takes his role as captain seriously and said he had offered the Spaniard the same support he gave to his predecessor.

Van Dijk made his pre-season return for Liverpool against Monaco over the weekend.

“We had a great conversation in the first week when it got announced and the main thing for him to know is that I am here for him regardless: anything he needs, wants to know, wants me to do for the team, I am here for him,” he said. “I liked working under Arne [Slot] and I am sure I will like working under the new manager.”

With Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah having left, Liverpool could field a younger side, which would make Van Dijk even more of an exception. “It definitely feels like a bit of a transition, for sure,” he said. “It is down to everyone associated with Liverpool to make sure we are building something that will be successful for years to come.”

Now in the final season of his contract, and closer to turning 40 than 30, Van Dijk may not be part of that long-term future for years and years. But the late bloomer is determined to keep thriving well into the later stages of his career.