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It was not that long ago when Liverpool was known for its defensive mishaps and weak mentality at the back which led to the team conceding goal after goal.
Since the departure of Sami Hyypia, there were a lot of centre-backs which aimed to fill the void left at the back by the former Liverpool captain.
Although a few of them had some good days in a Red shirt, none of them came close to organising the defence and fixing the problems that the club had at the back.
In the 2013/14 season, Liverpool historically lost the title. A lot of talk surrounds Steven Gerrard's slip, but no one talks about the defence of Kolo Toure and Martin Skrtel.
If Liverpool had a Joel Matip back then, let alone a Virgil van Dijk, do you think they would have conceded those three goals against Crystal Palace, and numerous others across the season? The answer is a simple no.
Jurgen Klopp knew what he wanted to do when he came to Liverpool. First, he organised the team and got over the loss of Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard. And when the club started to play the football he liked, he realised that the defence was not up to the mark. He had his eyes on one defender, and only one defender -- Southampton's Van Dijk.
Klopp wanted to sign the Dutch international at the beginning of the 2017/18 season, but those efforts failed. The manager could have easily set his eyes elsewhere and bought anyone else - he chose not to. He waited for the one he wanted, and when he did get van Dijk, a new chapter in the history of Liverpool began.
Not since Luis Suarez played for the Reds, did one signing transform the club so much. And not even Suarez could lead his club to the heights that van Dijk has. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this century, no single player barring Steven Gerrard has had the impact that van Dijk has had on the Reds.
The defender's transfer fee (£75 million) raised a lot of eyebrows. Two years later, he has established himself as the best defender in the world and is a frontrunner for football's greatest individual award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or.
Here, I take a look at a few reasons why the current Netherlands captain should win the award -
1) The trophy criteria
Winning the Champions League has become an unofficial category in deciding which player wins the Ballon d'Or. Ideally, this should not be the case - but nine out of the last 12 winners of the award have been winners of the Champions League that particular season.
Although not very accurate criteria to judge the best player, it also understandable why this "rule" exists. Winning the Champions League means that your team has been the best in Europe that season; and as such, the best players in the team will be the very best in the world. In the Premier League, Liverpool finished as runners-up by one point and van Dijk was the best player in England during that time.
Of course, to give van Dijk all the credit for leading Liverpool to the coveted trophy would be unfair to his teammates. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson, etc. all had a major role to play in the team's success. However, you remove van Dijk from the equation, and do you think that the result would have been the same?
During the tournament, the towering centre-back kept some of the world's best forwards at bay. These included Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane and the deadly Napoli attack, amongst a few others. Even Lionel Messi was not at his best at Anfield, and the Dutchman had a lot to do with that.
Remember how Van Dijk casually outran Son Heung-Ming and won the ball from him with relative ease in the Champions League final -- a great example of just how dominant he was last season.
Any other defender in that position against the agile Son and fans would be holding their breath. For van Dijk though, the task seemed easy enough.
His performances in the Premier League have also led him to win the PFA Player of the Year Award for the 2018/19 season. In winning that award, he became the first defender to win the award since John Terry.
He was also awarded the UEFA Player of the Year for his performances throughout the season, where he barely put a foot wrong. Most recently, Liverpool also won the UEFA Super Cup and are currently sitting at the top of the Premier League.
As far as trophies are concerned, van Dijk's outstanding performances have ensured that he has won the ones which matter the most.
Also check out: EPL fixtures EPL table Champions League Schedule
2) A catalyst for major success
When was the last time a single signing transformed an entire club? You would have to think of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo for a perfect answer. Most recently, it has been Virgil van Dijk.
When Jurgen Klopp came to Anfield, the team he inherited was in shambles. There were issues in every corner of the field, and he had to correct all of them. The attack was complete when Mohamed Salah was signed to complement Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
The midfield was complete when he signed Fabinho to play with Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson. The only remaining issue was the defence. Even though Andy Robertson, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez were doing a good job at the back, there was that lack of a leader, the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
Ever since he was signed for Liverpool in January 2018, van Dijk transformed the team. Standing at 6'4", you would think that the Dutch captain was made in a laboratory as an example of the perfect centre-back. Calm, disciplined, tall, and strong, there is no aspect of van Dijk's game that needed improvement.
Within his first few games at Anfield, a change could already be seen. Liverpool fans have always been nervous when they go even 2-0 up, as their team was prone to blow away leads. Post van Dijk, even 1-0 leads started to look like a definitive win.
Neither of Salah or Fabinho single-handedly had an impact at the club that the former Southampton captain did. You take Salah out, Mane and Firmino can still net goals. Take Fabinho out and sure, the midfield struggles, but the overall style of the team comes to play and they make do.
Take Van Dijk out, and the level of security and assuredness at the back just goes away.
Since van Dijk arrived at Anfield on January 22, 2018, here are the stats which show how much he has changed the club (accurate to 8th November 2019) -
Games played - 95
Wins - 64, Win percentage - 67.4%
Draws - 17, Defeats - 14
Goals conceded - 85, Goals conceded per game - 0.89
In the 2018-19 season (which is the season relevant for the Ballon d'Or award), van Dijk and Liverpool conceded the least goals across the top 5 leagues in Europe (22), and no centre-back kept as many clean sheets as him (20).
Van Dijk had a whopping aerial duel success rate of 74.2%, and his mere presence at the back changed the way forwards have attacked Liverpool.
His error which led to Napoli's goal in the recent Champions League group game was his first in over a year, which paints a story of the defender's insane consistency.
Even for the Netherlands, his captaincy and abilities have helped revamp a Dutch side which did not even qualify for the 2018 captain.
He and Matthijs de Ligt now form one of the deadliest duos at the back in international football, and manager Ronald Koeman only has great things to say about his captain.
3) A perfect season, a perfect defender
Some people will argue that it is much harder to create a goal than to stop an attack. That argument does have its own merits, however, it has often been said that the art of defending is less appreciated than the art of scoring.
A winning goal is seen in almost every other game, and that goal is easy to celebrate, it is easy to see its value. The value of a well-timed tackle or the importance of an aerial duel won is not as easy to see, and therefore the appraisal for the defender gets lost in transition.
It is harder to see a defender's merits because you cannot say that he stopped 50 goals as compared to the 50 that Lionel Messi scores.
When Nicolas Pepe successfully dribbled past van Dijk in the Premier League this season, it was a cause for celebration for rival fans. Since his arrival at Liverpool, the Dutch defender had gone over 50 games without an opponent dribbling past him - a stat unmatched since these observations were recorded.
The defender has built such an aura and reputation around himself, that if an attacker is to even get past him, he is lauded as having performed a miracle. The focus, however, should not be on Pepe getting past him, it should be on the fact that van Dijk reads the game so well that he does not need to dive into a tackle for the most part.
Of course, the centre-back then caught up with the Ivorian and the attack eventually came to nothing.
Van Dijk is a physical freak of nature. Tall, muscly, great at positioning, and by far the best in the world at the art of jockeying - forcing the attacker to take the ball towards a position favourable to the defender.
The defender is very much a modern centre-back, but he has that old school style about him. He is composed, his interceptions are timed and vital, he can pass the ball long, he is a set-piece threat, and the list goes on.
The 2018-19 season was an anomaly, in the sense that you barely see a defender having such a flawless year. Not only was van Dijk at the heart of Europe's best defence, but his playing style also forced forwards to change their game. Instead of attacking Liverpool directly, many teams resorted to cutting out wide and trying out their luck with Robertson or Alexander-Arnold.
In the last Champions League campaign, van Dijk was clocked as having produced the fastest single sprint of any player in the competition (at 34.5km/h) – a stat that serves to showcase his insane natural ability. In the unlikely case that you do get past him, he will probably catch up to you.
He was not dribbled past by anyone, and he faced the likes of Messi, Eden Hazard, Sergio Aguero, etc. He won most of his aerial duels, he stopped more attacks than you can care to count, and he was a nightmare for any forward.
Troy Deeney of Watford summarised van Dijk better than anyone else can - "He’s the best by far,” he explained in an interview with Graham Hunter in 2018. “[He’s] 6ft 6inches tall, quick, confident with the ball at his feet, and doesn’t mind a physical battle. He’s the closest thing we’ve got to a complete defender in the Premier League.”
In another interview that year, Deeney added: “I hate going up against him. He's too big, too strong, too quick, too good on the ball, loves fighting.."
We all know the prowess of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and we know they are capable of scoring 50 goals a season with ease. However, the fact remains, that van Dijk's year as a defender is probably unmatched in recent memory.
As good as Messi was this season, he ultimately did fail to lead his team to the Champions League - and it was van Dijk and Liverpool who stopped him. Even in Sergio Ramos' peak season, the centre-back is remembered for scoring that header vs Atletico Madrid, or for the brace at the Allianz Arena.
Van Dijk is more disciplined, stronger, and faster - it is his defending that makes the headlines, and he has brought attention back to the importance of a strong defence. The fact that van Dijk is even in the conversation for the Ballon d'Or as a defender encaptures his greatness - none of Ramos, Gerard Pique, Jerome Boateng, and other great defenders of this era have managed that.
It has been 13 years since Fabio Cannavaro won the award as a defender and Van Dijk is the closest that has come to claim the crown since then. It will be tough for any defender to replicate van Dijk's last season, and for the focus that he has brought to the art of defending as well as the impact he has had, he well and truly deserves to win the Ballon d'Or.
