Jurgen Klopp is never afraid to speak highly of his own players and this has been on show once again, in his most recent press conference.
Speaking about Virgil van Dijk, the 56-year-old said: “It always was [and] will always be; Virg is the best defender in the world.
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“Did he have lesser good spells? Yes. [But] if you show me one [player] who never had [that] I will be really happy to meet him. To be honest, probably that’s how we all are.
“When we look back in the past and the Rio Ferdinands on the planet, not to blame him, but were [they] then good all the time? Or Jaap Stam, Sami Hyypia, or whatever?
“[Were they] always perfect? Nobody was and nobody will be. So, yes, Virg in that shape is for us super, super, super-important.”
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It’s a bold statement from the German to say that his captain is the best defender in the world but one that we’ll all agree with.
It’s taken a little bit of time to recover from the terrible knee injury but now it seems clear that the Dutchman is back to his impervious best.
You can watch Klopp’s comments on Van Dijk (from 10:36) via BeanymanSports on YouTube:
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