Virgil van Dijk made a surprising choice as he was asked to name his best teammate at Liverpool. The Dutchman barely hesitated.
Virgil van Dijk has played with many of the world’s best in his time with Liverpool. Just about everyone in the team has won an award for their performance in one way or another.
But who is the outright best? That was the question put to Van Dijk by Pitch Side as they interviewed him recently. The Dutchman had a surprising answer, too.
“I’d say at Liverpool, probably Bobby Firmino,” said Van Dijk. “I know how difficult it is to play against him as a defender. Because he drops deep and all this stuff. So I can say him.
“But [also] Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Thiago now – it’s been a joy to play with these guys.
“For the national team, I’d say Frenkie de Jong, who is really good.”
Virgil van Dijk picks his best teammate
From the outside looking in, few would imagine Firmino was his answer. The Brazilian was always been a fairly distant third behind Salah and Mané in Liverpool’s headline attack.
But it shouldn’t really surprise all that much as everyone at Liverpool values Firmino immeasurably. Jurgen Klopp has said it’s ‘insane’ how much the Brazilian does and believes you could write a book on him.
Earlier this year, Thiago called Firmino ‘the most skilful’ player at Liverpool, too. Now we’ve got Van Dijk calling him the best he’s played with.
It’s all incredibly high praise for a player who flies a little under the radar of those outside the club. Comments like this, though, show just how highly they rate him at Liverpool.
And with his contract expiring in 2023, you can imagine there will be plenty of pressure from the players and coaches to get Firmino a new one.
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