‘Nowhere near them’: Pundit is adamant two Everton players are outperforming one of Liverpool’s star players

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Two Everton players are outperforming Virgil van Dijk, says one talkSPORT pundit. The Liverpool defender isn’t having his best year.

Virgil van Dijk, like most at Liverpool this season, is struggling a bit. Certainly, he’s struggling more than we’ve ever seen from the defender.

That’s reflected in Liverpool conceding goals at a ridiculous rate for them. This is the team that shipped the fewest goals in 2019, 2020 and 2022. Now they typically go in at half-time at least one goal down.

Jason Cundy, talking to talkSPORT, claims a big part of that is Van Dijk’s form. He’s ‘nowhere near’ the best defenders in the Premier League this season, he says.

“He’s not [among the best centre-halves in the Premier League]! He’s nowhere near them,” said Cundy. “[James] Tarkowski has had a better season than him. [Conor] Coady. [Eric] Dier. [William] Saliba.

“Van Dijk has been a brilliant centre-half. But this [conversation] has got to stop. He’s living off some sort of train that actually didn’t reach the station!”

Players outperforming Virgil van Dijk

Where do you even start? Cundy goes on a weird rant here, saying that Van Dijk is ‘nowhere near’ legendary Premier League defenders like Rio Ferdinand and John Terry. That then devolves into the Dutchman apparently being one of the worst in the league right now.

Both are demonstrably false opinions, of course. When you’ve got Erling Haaland calling Van Dijk ‘the best in the world’ and Neymar talking about how much he hates playing against him, you’ve probably found better judgement than Jason Cundy.

As for this season, Van Dijk hasn’t been at his best. It’s also clear, however, that Liverpool aren’t functioning as a team right now and consistently leave their defence exposed.

A poor side will make every player look worse. Top players only play to the best of their abilities in teams that actually work and Van Dijk is no different.

He’s still outperforming what we’re seeing at Everton, of course. But Van Dijk will quickly look like a world-beater again if Liverpool fix themselves. There’s no doubt about that.