Top 10 Liverpool players of the decade

#2 Virgil van Dijk

Calm as you like.

Throughout the decade, Liverpool has had some defensive difficulties. After Jamie Carragher's retirement in 2013 and Daniel Agger's departure in 2014, the Reds' backline seemingly got worse as the years went by.

One of the only things stopping Jürgen Klopp from reaching the next level at Liverpool was a top-class defender. After a messy situation in the summer, the Reds signed Virgil van Dijk for £75 million in the winter of 2017. The fee seemed questionable at the time, but the Dutchman got off to a flying start when he scored a late winner against Everton on his debut.

Liverpool struggled defensively in the first half of that season, conceding silly goals to the likes of Newcastle, Watford and especially Tottenham. Following van Dijk's arrival, the Reds became much more solid and conceded a lot fewer goals.

They even ended up reaching the Champions League final in 2018, showing the impact that the big Dutchman had on Liverpool just months after joining the club.

The following season saw van Dijk surpass his own high levels and attain a level of consistency that very few have reached. He bossed games for fun, shutting out the opposition with ease.

The transformation of Liverpool's defence with Virgil van Dijk at the heart of it is borderline miraculous. Everybody seems so much calmer with him on the pitch. van Dijk is very important to the team and always comes up big. At times, he seems like a teacher in a schoolboy match.

van Dijk has been a colossal presence at Anfield for close to two years now and the Dutch destroyer has raised the bar to such ridiculous standards, that he picked up the UEFA Player of the Season award and finished a close second in the 2019 Ballon d'Or vote.