‘Outstanding’ Liverpool star has silenced the critics and been their best player this season

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This time last year, there weren’t too many contenders for Liverpool’s Player of the Season so far.

With the Reds struggling to get going, the only player to truly stand up and be counted was Alisson Becker. As his teammates struggled around him, Alisson was a bastion of dependability in the Liverpool goal.

And while the Brazilian has once again been brilliant in 2023/24, he now has competition for the crowning of the Reds’ best player at Christmas.

For us, Ali can still take his spot in second place, just ahead of Mohamed Salah. But unfortunately for the big man, he’s going have to cede his crown to Liverpool’s captain, the imperious Virgil van Dijk.

Much had been made of Van Dijk’s steady form by this point last season. With a World Cup looming, the centre-back seemed to be getting criticised at every turn.

This season, those same critics have gone a little quiet. Virgil has been back to something approaching his very best. For us, no one has matched the No.4’s displays so far this campaign.

Van Dijk is Liverpool’s Player of the Season so far

Going into the season, there were still question marks over whether Van Dijk would ever reach his top level again.

The side effects of the knee injury he suffered in 2020 seemed to be lingering still and there were suggestions that the Dutchman was even starting to decline.

With those doubts ringing in his ears though, Virgil has well and truly answered them all. And more.

Never one to mince his words, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has been one of those to recognise just how good the Reds’ captain has been all season long.

“Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker outstanding again,” Carragher wrote after Liverpool’s win over Crystal Palace earlier this month. “They have been doing some very heavy lifting this season.”

Jurgen Klopp is another to have lauded Van Dijk’s influence, claiming that the 32-year-old is once again ‘the best defender in the world.’

That was a title that followed Virgil around without question between 2018 and 2021. On last season’s showings, there was real doubt about whether he would ever be worthy of it again.

Thankfully, with half of the season now pretty much done and dusted, Van Dijk has shown that that was simply a blip. If the Reds are to win anything in 2024, they’ll need their captain at his very best. Should he end up lifting a trophy above his head in May, no one will have deserved it more. Keep it going, Virg!