It has been a tough and long road to recovery for Virgil van Dijk who has spent nine months on the sidelines after suffering a cruciate ligament injury on his right knee. He went under the knife and therefore the absence from the field was longer than expected. However, the Dutch defender returned to action, playing 20 minutes in a friendly match against Hertha Berlin.
Van Dijk may get more minutes under his belt as they still have some friendly matches remaining in the build-up to their upcoming season. The Reds will play a couple of matches against Bologna before returning to Anfield and hosting Atletico Madrid and Osasuna.
The Dutchman is not expected to feature in all of the games. Hence he will be short of match practice ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League opener against Norwich City on August 14.
Sky Sports expert and former Liverpool legend James Carragher said regarding Van Dijk’s situation
I think we have to be careful and I think Jurgen Klopp will be. I don’t think we should expect that Virgil van Dijk comes back into Liverpool and Liverpool are going to automatically win the league again this season. He’s had a really serious injury and he’s got to make sure he is not rushed back. If he’s back to his best he is the best central defender in world football and that’s what Liverpool will want over the next five or six years, not the next five or six weeks.
Carragher warns Liverpool to be very cautious with Van Dijk’s situation. He wants the club to apply the wait and watch policy and if the Dutchman’s return takes time, then so be it. He wants Liverpool to hand the defender more time to be completely fit before leading the Reds into the new season.
Liverpool were massively short-handed last season after injuries to Van Dijk and Joe Gomez. The Reds ran out of options and had to field some very inexperienced players like Nat Philipps and Rhys Williams, surprisingly they did pretty well. But to avoid that situation in the coming season, Jurgen Klopp went on to sign RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate for a transfer fee of £36million.
The young Frenchman has been superb for RB Leipzig for the last couple of seasons and is already one of the hot prospects in European football. However, Konate will need a few matches to get accustomed to the pace of the Premier League and therefore, Klopp may hand him an early start in defence for the Reds.
Both Gomez and Joel Matip are also returning to full fitness and Klopp will have to make some tough decisions once all of his options are available.
I don’t really envy Jurgen Klopp picking that centre-back partnership for the first game.
added Carragher.
Right now, if everyone is at their absolute best, the partnership has always been Gomez and Van Dijk, but I think it is going to be difficult for them to be at their absolute best as both have had serious, long-term injuries. Whether Konate can break that one up and Matip always comes in and does a very good job.
Despite all the injuries and problems last season Liverpool still managed to finish in the third position in the Premier League. However, this season things will only get tougher with Chelsea finding their mojo under new manager, Thomas Tuchel and Manchester United roping in players like Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane. Manchester City will again start as favourites as they are also closing in on a few transfer deals with Jack Grealish and Harry Kane.
Therefore it is going to be tough for Liverpool in the upcoming season. But according to Carragher, the Reds will have to add some reinforcements to challenge the other teams in the Premier League.
The former centre back wants a player who can get some goals and also hopes that Sadio Mane will have a big season for the Merseyside outfit. All in all, the Liverpool defence looks all set to head onto the upcoming season but they may need a couple of signings in midfield and attack.
