5 reasons why Virgil van Dijk is a future Liverpool captain

Liverpool are flying high right now and part of the reason for that has been the form of central defender Virgil van Dijk. Signed from Southampton in the January transfer window for a world-record fee of £75m for a defender, the Dutchman has helped to shore up Liverpool’s defence and since his arrival, the Reds have gone from strength to strength.

There can be no doubt that van Dijk is a massively key player for the Reds even if he doesn’t receive the plaudits that the likes of top scorer Mo Salah do – but is he a future Liverpool captain? The answer is quite possibly, and here are 5 reasons why.

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#1 Great captains often lead from the back

Great captains of the past like John Terry were defenders like van Dijk

Many qualities make a great captain – the ability to lead by example, to spur on your teammates, to be able to inspire younger players and to be able to follow the manager’s instructions – but it can’t be a coincidence that the majority of great captains – at least in the Premier League era – have been defenders.

Sure, it’s the flashy forward players who get more of the media hype and plaudits from fans and observers, but it’s in the defence where the formula for success is often truly built. A strong defender in the centre is often the inspirational leader that a side needs, and the list of Premier League winning captains backs this up.

Of all 13 Premier League title-winning captains, 7 of them – Steve Bruce, Tony Adams, John Terry, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Vincent Kompany and Wes Morgan – were all defenders, with Terry being the most successful captain in Premier League history with 5 title wins.

Granted, having a defender as your captain doesn’t guarantee success, but it does seem to be in vogue – 13 of the 20 current Premier League sides also use a defender as their captain. If Liverpool wanted to follow suit, then van Dijk – as their clear-cut top defender – would be the natural choice for the job.

#2 Jordan Henderson's first-team place is not guaranteed

The imminent arrival of Naby Keita could signal the end for current captain Jordan Henderson

Liverpool’s current captain – midfielder Jordan Henderson – also happens to be one of the most divisive players in English football right now. Even Liverpool fans find it difficult to really decide whether he’s a key player or simply a passenger in their side, and the argument tends to sway from Henderson being a pedestrian midfielder with a slow touch who only passes sidewards, to a hard-working, tough-tackling leader who is a key to Liverpool’s engine.

The issue is that despite being Liverpool’s captain, it seems that at times, Jurgen Klopp has found it just as hard as the fans to really make a call on Henderson. While he’s been a key part of the Liverpool side who’ve beaten Manchester City and Roma in Champions League action recently, he also found himself left out of the starting line-up for key games against Manchester United and Sevilla earlier in the season.

With the imminent arrival of Naby Keita – a man who shares some attributes with Henderson, but is generally seen as his superior – the current captain’s time may be limited, at least in terms of a starting position. And if he isn’t starting then surely it makes more sense to give the armband to someone who is a guaranteed starter and a key player – and in that sense, the only really strong option would be van Dijk.

#3 He’s already captain of his country

Van Dijk has already been selected to captain his country

Often when an international side selects a new captain, they tend to go for an experienced player and a lot of the time they’ll pick someone who is already captain of their club. When Ronald Koeman took over the managerial duties for the Netherlands earlier in 2018 though, the man he chose as his new captain was none other than van Dijk.

It didn’t really come as a surprise given that Koeman and van Dijk had worked together at Southampton – it was Koeman who signed the Dutch defender from Celtic – and van Dijk has always credited Koeman with getting him to the top in the Premier League, but it also says a lot about the defender’s leadership qualities.

Despite the Netherlands currently being in a rebuilding phase following failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the fact that van Dijk has been selected to captain his country surely means that he’s a future club captain too. The two roles go hand-in-hand after all, and the fact that he already captains the Netherlands would instantly give him the respect he’d need to captain Liverpool as well, particularly if he can bring some success back to his international side.

#4 At 26, he’s just entering his prime

Unlike Jordan Henderson (above right), van Dijk is a guaranteed starter at Liverpool

When choosing a captain, it can sometimes be tricky to find a balance between picking someone with the right amount of experience, but also the right level of fitness to be playing regularly. It might make sense to choose a veteran who’s been around for years as captain, but if that player is in his mid-30’s already and is injury prone, then how much use is a captain who can barely play? On the flip side, of course, a talented youngster might simply lack experience and the correct temperament.

That’s why van Dijk falls into the perfect category for a strong club captain. At the age of 26 he’s just entering his prime years as a footballer, and assuming he’s unlikely to leave Liverpool in the near future, he could well have at least another 7 or 8 seasons left in him – if not a decade given the advancements in fitness and injury rehabilitation.

By making van Dijk their captain, Liverpool would be selecting a leader who’s likely to be around as a key player in the team – and first choice in his position – for years to come. It’d add stability to the Reds’ squad that they don’t have right now with Jordan Henderson – who isn’t a guaranteed starter – and they’d be selecting a player worthy of following the legacy of past Liverpool captains like Steven Gerrard.

#5 He’s already established himself as a key player

Van Dijk has shored up Liverpool's defence since his arrival

Where it’s often hard to work out exactly what current captain Jordan Henderson adds to Liverpool, it’s easy to see exactly what van Dijk has done for the side. A team with a reputation for having one of the shakier defences in the top half of the Premier League – remember those disastrous showings against Tottenham and Newcastle earlier in the season? – has been firmly shored up by the arrival of the Dutchman in January.

Prior to his arrival, Liverpool had played 21 Premier League games and had conceded 24 goals – meaning on average, they were conceding 1.14 goals per game. After the Dutchman’s signing in January, the Reds have played 15 league games and have only conceded 13 goals – an average of 0.86 goals per game. More to the point, van Dijk played in 12 of those 15 games, and in those 12 Liverpool conceded just 9 goals, giving them an even lower average of 0.75 goals conceded per game.

Essentially, van Dijk has solved the defensive problems that Jurgen Klopp was having at Anfield and almost more impressively, his arrival appears to have filled his defensive teammates – the likes of Dejan Lovren, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez – with even more confidence too. Surely that’s the making of a future team captain, and more evidence to suggest that Liverpool could hand the Dutchman the armband in the near future.