Virgil van Dijk has moved to defend Jarell Quanza’s interview last week.
The Liverpool captain believes it is too early. Jarell Quanza takes a big step forward in 2023. At the beginning of this year, I was nowhere near the main team.
He ended his spell as a regular in Jurgen Klopp’s side with several Premier League appearances. Gwansa was also ranked first as a centre-back. Injuries are the main reason for both positions and sides. Joe Gomez played at full-back, with Trent Alexander-Arnold filling most of the left-back roles. Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas are now out for long periods. But the biggest reason why Kwanzaa was able to advance was Joel Matip’s terrible ACL injury.
The experienced centre-back will miss the rest of the season, giving his younger teammate an opportunity. Quansa recently spoke to LFCTV about it. “Obviously what happened to Joel (Matip) is a disgrace and we offer our condolences,” he said. “But my thought was to try to beat him and become a top defender in the Premier League. Not everyone shares that attitude. Kwanza clearly has ambitions here, but is accused of being disrespectful to Matip.
This is the problem that Virgil van Dijk set out to solve. “I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Van Dijk told the Liverpool Echo. “I think it’s good that he thinks that way. But it’s too early to say that [after Joel Matip’s injury]. I don’t think he meant it that way. If you were 20, you might have said something that might have been seen differently.
I totally understand where he’s coming from. But we cannot forget what Joel has done for this club and the contribution he has made to the success we have achieved.” To be honest, the Liverpool captain’s response is very good. Everyone knows that Van Dijk and Matip are close and Quanza’s comments clearly irritated the Dutchman.
But he showed great understanding here and found a way to solve the problem that both players defended. It’s things like this that make Van Dijk’s case for Liverpool this summer.
