Virgil van Dijk: Liverpool's Constant in a Time of Change

Virgil van Dijk has seen Liverpool change around him before. Managers, systems, supporting casts. But never quite like this.

Now 35, inside the final year of the two-year extension he signed in April 2025, the captain stands at the heart of a defence that has been stripped back and rebuilt on the fly. Ibrahima Konate is gone. Andy Robertson is gone. Mohamed Salah, the other pillar of the Jurgen Klopp era, has gone too. The centre-back department he leads is almost unrecognisable.

And yet, Van Dijk remains. Not as a fading monument, but as the reference point for a new project under Andoni Iraola.

A new era, same anchor

Liverpool’s centre-back group is a study in contrasts. On one side, Van Dijk, a two-time Premier League winner and Champions League captain, entering his 10th season at Anfield. On the other, Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet, 19 and 21, still waiting for a Premier League minute between them. Joe Gomez is again wrestling with injuries. Ronald Araujo is expected to arrive on an emergency loan from Barcelona.

In that chaos, Van Dijk’s presence is not just useful. It is essential.

Even in his mid-30s, he still defends at an elite level, still dominates dressing rooms and training sessions, still offers calm when uncertainty swirls. Liverpool have changed manager twice in quick succession, moved on from multiple leaders, and retooled their squad. Van Dijk has become the constant.

He has already sat down with Iraola, the third manager he has played under at Anfield.

“It has been absolutely fine [working with Iraola], we had a great conversation in the first week when it got announced,” he said after his first pre-season outing, a 3-2 defeat to Monaco on Sunday. “The main thing for him to know is that I am here for him regardless. Anything he needs, wants to know, wants me to do for the team or whatever I am here for him and hopefully we will be successful this season and that's what we want.”

The message is clear: new ideas, same responsibility.

A brutal year and a calculated reset

If Van Dijk looks refreshed, it is because he insisted on it.

The last 12 months pushed him to the edge. No player in Europe’s top five leagues logged more minutes than Liverpool’s captain last season. Before the World Cup, he had already racked up 5,841 minutes. Then came Qatar, where he played every minute of the Netherlands’ run to the last-32 stage, taking his total to 6,141 minutes across 69 appearances for club and country. That’s an average of 89 minutes per game for a player in the autumn of his career, one who suffered a serious ACL injury back in October 2020.

He knew something had to give.

Van Dijk personally asked to skip Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States after a three-week break following the World Cup. While his team-mates boarded long-haul flights and adjusted to jet lag, he stayed behind at the AXA Training Centre, working, testing, preparing.

“I definitely asked for a good break because I felt like I needed it, not only physically but mentally as well,” he explained. “It was a very demanding year from before pre-season started last year until the day I got knocked out of the World Cup so I felt like I needed a good break and I had maybe three days more than Ryan (Gravenberch), Flo (Wirtz) and Alex (Isak).

“For me it was key I didn't want to go to America because I didn't want to get jet lag and after come back from that as well. And I felt like having a couple of extra days at the AXA, doing the testing before the team was there and getting ready for when the team was back to immediately crack on, I felt that was for me personally the best way.”

This was not a veteran winding down. It was a professional recalibrating to go again.

“I've had six, seven or eight days [training], so I was very keen to get minutes in my legs and glad I came out of it with no issues,” he said of that first pre-season appearance.

From Klopp and Slot to Iraola

Van Dijk has already bridged one transition. He went from being Klopp’s defensive cornerstone to the on-field extension of Arne Slot, helping Liverpool through a season that ended in disappointment but showcased a new style and a new energy.

“Nothing to take away from Arne and his staff, we had an amazing time together, obviously last year a disappointment,” Van Dijk reflected. “This year we have a new manager who has new ways of preparation.

“So we have to adapt to a new staff, different training methods but I liked working under Arne and I am sure I will like working under the new manager.”

Adaptation has become part of his job description. Where once he was simply the dominant centre-back, now he is also the bridge: between managers, between generations, between eras of Liverpool.

‘Are you going to say I'm 35 and I can't do it?’

Age, of course, hangs over any discussion of a 35-year-old defender with his mileage. Van Dijk confronts it head-on.

“Yes [I'm ready to go again],” he said. “Are you going to say I'm 35 years old and I can't do it?

“At the end of the day, you have to look after yourself. You have to be, I wouldn't say lucky, but you have to do everything in your power. That is the bare minimum for me because I feel the responsibility to be ready for each and every game. We play every three days. Between games, at home, at the training ground, you have to do everything in your power to be ready to play again.

“For me, I feel good. I am also a late bloomer so you know, maybe...it is what it is.

“I feel fine and I want to make all the fans proud all over the world that support us wherever we go, and that is by winning games and by showing what it means to wear the shirt every time, and that is for me the bare minimum anyway, so we keep going.”

There is no talk of farewell tours or soft landings. Just an insistence on standards.

Holding the line in a transition

Liverpool are undeniably in transition. The churn that began last summer has continued, stripping away more of the old spine and placing greater weight on those who remain.

“It definitely feels like a bit of a transition, for sure,” Van Dijk admitted. “It is down to everyone associated with Liverpool to make sure we are building something that will be successful for years to come.

“This year, we want to be successful, but there is a lot of work still to be done. We all know how difficult it is to be playing in the Premier League, the League Cup, the FA Cup, and the Champions League, so we need everyone at their best.

“We need to be consistent and win more games. Let's see what the next couple of weeks are going to bring [in the transfer window]. Any quality we can add to the team will definitely be welcome so let's see.”

He knows the demands. He has lived through title races, Champions League runs, and seasons where Liverpool played on every front until legs and minds frayed. He also knows that with Leoni, Jacquet and potentially Araujo stepping into a reshaped back line, his role extends far beyond his own performance.

For Iraola, that is priceless. For Liverpool, it may be decisive.

Van Dijk’s contract is running down, his minutes have been stretched to extremes, and the club around him is being rebuilt in real time. Yet as another season looms, one question lingers less on whether he can still do it, and more on how long Liverpool can afford to imagine a future without him at its core.