Why Virgil van Dijk skipped US tour as Liverpool skipper makes honest ‘work to do’ admission

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After an exhausting year where he played every single meaningful minute in the Premier League and missed just two of Liverpool’s 57 matches across all competitions before powering straight into a punishing World Cup campaign where Netherlands were eliminated in the round 32 stage losing in a penalty shootout vs Morocco so the 35-year-old knew his body needed something different. speaking to reporters in the mixed zone after the game he stated: “I definitely asked for a good break because I felt like I needed it, not only physically but mentally as well,” Van Dijk explained with trademark openness. “It was a very demanding year from before pre-season started last year until the day I got knocked out of the World Cup, so I felt like I needed a good break and I had maybe three days more than Ryan, Flo and Alex.

“What about you going to say I’m 35 years old and I can’t do it? Virgil van Dijk on the demands of top-flight football at the age of 35 ?? pic.twitter.com/qJvRnp6aSd — Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) August 10, 2026 “And because I feel the responsibility to be ready each and every game so every three days you have to be… I’m doing everything in my power at home at the training room to be ready to play a game.

And so for me, you know, I feel good. I feel fine and I want to be part of a successful Liverpool team and I want to make all the fans proud all over the world that support us wherever we go and that’s by winning games and that’s by showing what it means to where they show it every time and that’s for me, the bare minimum anyway.