Most of the talk yesterday surrounding Liverpool’s draw with Everton focussed on the decisions from the match officials, but the situation surrounding Virgil van Dijk has started to look pretty awful.
A lot of people are angry with the VAR officials for purely focussing on a potential offside decisions while ignoring the fact that Jordan Pickford went completely unpunished, but losing the Dutchman for a long time is a much bigger issue.
He’s the rock at the heart of Liverpool’s defence and there are fears that they will struggle without him, so this report seems to confirm that their worst fears have been realised:
BREAKING: Virgil van Dijk injury confirmed as anterior cruciate ligament tear.
The Liverpool defender requires surgery and is in a race to return this season @_ChrisBascombe #LFC https://t.co/Q0OEYALpr2
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) October 18, 2020
The problem here is this doesn’t just come down to possibly missing the rest of the reason, but you also have to worry about him managing to make a full recovery in a physical sense.
His physical attributes allow him to look completely imperious as a defender because he can deal with any threat, while injuries like this can also affect decision making and bravery too.
He’s legitimately one of the best players in the world so any football fan needs to be wishing him a full and proper recovery, so hopefully the surgery goes well and he’s given all the time he needs to make a comeback.