'Without a doubt': Jamie Carragher says where Virgil van Dijk now ranks in Liverpool's best ever players
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Virgil van Dijk led by example again and scored the winning goal in Liverpool’s Champions League opener.
The Reds produced another European night to remember after scoring a last-minute winner to beat Atletico Madrid, which means they start off their campaign in the perfect fashion.
It was captain van Dijk who nodded home the winner from a 92nd minute corner, with the Dutchman playing yet another excellent game.
Despite being 34, the centre-back shows no signs of slowing down and, if anything, has got even better over the summer, if that was somehow possible.
He has won the lot and firmly cemented himself in Liverpool history, but where does he rank among the Reds’ elite?
Well, Jamie Carragher has given his verdict on the matter, and it is safe to say he holds van Dijk in very high regard.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
There is often a debate as to whether van Dijk is the best Premier League centre-back of all time, and his career shows that it is certainly up for discussion.
There is no denying that he is Liverpool’s best, however, although some would stretch the argument further and say he is the greatest in the history of the club.
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And Carragher’s opinion would suggest that he knows it is very close, with the former defender believing he is one of the best 10 players to ever play for the Reds.
“I don’t like to describe van Dijk as just the best centre-back.
At Liverpool, a lot of people are called legends because they won the league, won the Champions League, there are a lot of them,” Carragher said on CBS.
“But if you want to differentiate them, I call them ‘giants of the club’.
I’m talking Stevie [Gerrard], Kenny Dalglish, Souness, Alan Hansen, John Barnes, the top seven or eight players, even Mo Salah.
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“Without a doubt [van Dijk is in that category], he is right in the middle of that and he’s not at the bottom I can assure you.
“He will go down as one of the greatest players to ever play for Liverpool.
Not one of the greatest centre-backs, one of the greatest players.”
Towards the end of last season, there was a big worry that van Dijk was going to move on and leave the club on a free transfer.
But the captain put pen to paper and extended his stay for another two years, meaning he will be 36 by the time it expires.
Although that is very old for a footballer, his performances prove that age is just a number, and it really would be no surprise to see him carry on for even longer.
Due to how well he reads the game, he has never had to rely solely on pace, something that is the biggest issue for centre-backs as they get older.
But as proven by someone like Thiago Silva, who was playing in the Premier League until he was 39, defenders like this can have very long careers.
Van Dijk is no different and given how well he has started this season, it would be no surprise to see the Dutchman get yet another contract in the future.