Virgil van Dijk became the world’s most expensive defender when he signed for Liverpool in a £75m deal in January 2018 (Harry Maguire has since eclipsed him), but the Netherlands centre-back has enjoyed individual and collective success at Anfield since then.
He won the PFA Player of the Year award last season and helped the Reds to win the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup in 2019. He has also been an abundant source of goals, as noted in a statistic from @AnfieldWatch on Twitter.
Since joining #LFC in January 2018, only Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have scored more goals for the Reds than Virgil van Dijk (8).pic.twitter.com/2fRlR3uy4N
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) August 27, 2019
Van Dijk has scored eight goals so far for Liverpool, with only three players on target more often for the club since his arrival, according to Anfield Watch.
He found the net six times last season, with only five other Reds players scoring more in 2018/19. His tally was the same as attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri and only one less than striker Divock Origi. [via TransferMarkt.co.uk]
Van Dijk’s other goals came on his Liverpool debut against Everton in the FA Cup and in the Reds’ opening Premier League game of this season versus Norwich.
While his scoring exploits have been impressive, these Liverpool fans on Twitter were more concerned with the comparative lack of goals from the Reds’ midfield players:
https://twitter.com/AlissxnV2/status/1166319683957604352
That’s shocking we haven’t one midfielder hitting double figures and shows how reliant we are on the front 3 not to get injured
— John O Sullivan (@Corballyred) August 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/LewisLFC5/status/1166318052809596928
https://twitter.com/SpecialKav/status/1166316883018223616
https://twitter.com/RogerSmith_1947/status/1166532554154897408
That’s worrying… we need Aouar or Havertz next season… I’m sick of playing 4-0-3
— Amz LFC (@96Amz) August 27, 2019
That’s not good enough for the midfielders
— Craig (@1CraigFisher) August 27, 2019
It's time our midfield join the action
— Paco (@PacoLFC4Life) August 27, 2019
