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Whilst the rest of the Liverpool team looked shaky and nervous against Everton with their title hopes in the balance, one man looked like he was the only one who wanted to take home a Premier League winners’ medal – Virgil van Dijk.
The Reds could only muster a 0-0 draw in the Merseyside derby, leaving them one point behind Manchester City with nine games to play.
Van Dijk’s heroics have been no secret for the majority of the season. The imperious Dutch international has been key to his side’s record of 17 clean sheets from their 29 games this term, but BBC pundit Garth Crooks fears for the Reds’ hopes of keeping him should they fail to secure the title.
What’s he said?
In his Premier League team of the week column, Crooks wrote: “What a colossus this man is.
“In the white hot heat of a Merseyside derby, Virgil van Dijk was simply immense. Whatever needed to be done was completed with composure and style.
“The problem for Liverpool is simply this; if they don’t win the title this season the chances are Real Madrid or Barcelona will come knocking – probably both. And few turn them down.”
We’ve seen it before
Whilst the former Southampton man has said that he wants to become a ‘legend’ at Anfield, every player has his price and we have seen star players at Liverpool get their wish of a move away.
The likes of Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho found the lure of the Camp Nou too hard to resist, whilst the Reds have lost Xabi Alonso to Los Blancos in the past – the pull factor of those two clubs is immense.
Liverpool seem to have turned a new leaf in the way they go about things, securing their best players on long-term contracts – Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Andrew Robertson have all been tied down to new deals.
However, if they do fail to secure this title, a player of van Dijk’s obvious talent and ambition may feel like a big fish in a small pond if he is the only one pulling his weight at times, like he was at Goodison Park.
His teammates need to up their game in order to keep him at the club.