Gary Neville wants Virgil Van Dijk to win the Player of the Year award.
“It wasn’t the signing itself that surprised me, it was the amount. I remember when Manchester City signed Kyle Walker for £50m and it sort of left me thinking ‘wow, that’s incredible’. It’s the same with Virgil van Dijk.”
“However, watching him in the last 12 months, everybody is giving him the praise he deserves. He’s been absolutely outstanding.”
“I remember looking back at my career and thinking of say Gary Pallister, Jaap Stam and Rio Ferdinand – a defender in a team that makes everybody feel safe.”
“Honestly, every time I watch Liverpool play and the ball gets played forward, even if Joel Matip misses it or the two full-backs aren’t quite there because they’ve gone forward, he just seems to cover the whole back four as one defender.”
“He’s a unique defender. Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos have been the best centre-backs in the world for me for the last few years.
“There is no doubt that this guy now is going to be up there in the next few years as the best centre-half in the world, because I’ve not seen a centre-half as good as him for a long, long time.
“And his in-possession play, his passing is a joke – it’s unbelievable. He passes it like a central midfield player.
“To me, he’s the player in the team that every Liverpool player will say if there’s one injury we don’t want, it’s him. He can’t get injured. He’s the one that’s got to stay fit.”
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