The Best FIFA Men's Player 2019: Top 5 contenders for the award (June 2019)

#2 Virgil van Dijk (Netherland, Liverpool)

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - UEFA Champions League Final

Virgil van Dijk has been rock solid at the back for Liverpool this season and is one of the favourites for the Best FIFA Men's Player award this year. The Dutchman was crucial to the Liverpool side who rallying up until the last day of the season, competing with Manchester City for the Premier League title. It was heartbreak in the end, but Jurgen Klopp certainly had a lot of positives in his season. The biggest among those has to be Van Dijk.

The Dutchman has developed into the best centre back in the world this season and was an omnipresent feature of a Liverpool defence that just let in just 22 goals in the league this season, even lower than Champions City who let in 23. However, his significance was further proven in the final of the UEFA Champions League, where the Dutchman handled the Tottenham attack with ease and ensured that Harry Kane had a quiet night. Van Dijk helped Klopp lift the Champions League trophy, after failing in the finals last season and turned Liverpool's season into success.

Klopp has to be praised for believing in the player so much that he bought Van Dijk for a world record fee for a defender in January of last year. That money has been repaid a thousand times and the Dutchman is going neck to neck with the top contender for the Best FIFA Men's Player award right now. As of now, Van Dijk is still 2nd in our list, but certainly has momentum on his side.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

Know More

Edited by Amar Anand