Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk has forced one pundit into a U-turn. Ruud Gullit, a former Netherlands and Chelsea midfielder, has confessed that Liverpool’s skipper is lower back on pinnacle shape beforehand of the subsequent global break.
In October 2020, Van Dijk suffered a cruciate ligament harm which kept him out of action for eight months. When he came back, some human beings questioned if he may want to play as properly as he did earlier than his injury.
Last season, like most of the Liverpool team, his performance wasn’t as good. But Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, believed in the 32-year-old and made him captain after Jordan Henderson left at the give up of the season.This season, Van Dijk is taking part in certainly well once more and is supporting Liverpool compete with Arsenal and Manchester City at the pinnacle of the Premier League. Yet it has taken till now to silence the doubters.
Gullit used to be one of the humans who criticized Van Dijk ultimate season. Voetbal International suggested that the 61-year-old said Van Dijk thought he used to be ‘better than the rest of the squad’, whilst De Telegraaf carried quotes the place the former Chelsea man accused the Liverpool defender of having ‘no management skills’.
But when requested if he had changed his mind, Gullit said he had. Stubbornly sticking by using his previous critique, he however mentioned an improvement.
“And rightly so,” Gullit said when requested about his preceding remarks criticizing Van Dijk. “He did not play nicely either, but he is developing back to his peak now. That’s the level you ask of him. That’s all I ask. He is also very good.”
Gullit then said: “I would not have criticized him if I didn’t assume he used to be a pinnacle player, then you have no use for it. Now you do. And he is there again. He passes well, and is more direct going forward.
“I think he just suffered from that awful injury. He also did not play nicely for a long time. If you see that, you have to say so. Now it’s different, then I say it too.”
It’s little wonder Van Dijk was unable to resist taking a shot at his detractors after scoring a last-minute winner in Liverpool’s current Carabao Cup success against Chelsea, Gullit’s former side. “They concept I was finished”, he remarked in the dressing room — a remark he has due to the fact admitted he ‘shouldn’t have said’, even even though he had clearly greater than earned his second of triumph.
The defender is getting geared up to captain his united states in the European Championships this summer. Right now, he’s with his national team, getting ready to play friendly fits in opposition to Scotland and Germany in the next week.
