Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is not looking anywhere near the player he used to be before his injury, according to talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy.
The Netherlands international missed a large chunk of the 2020/21 season after being injured by Jordan Pickford, though he returned and looked on top form again for Liverpool in 2021/22.
So far this season, however, Van Dijk has been poor, and though he’s far from the only one in this out-of-sorts Liverpool side, his dip in form has clearly affected the rest of the team.
See below as Cundy makes it clear he thinks we’re simply not seeing the same Van Dijk as the one we saw when he was at his peak before his lengthy absence due to that serious injury…
? “I genuinely feel for Van Dijk…”
? “But you can see he’s not the same player he was. Something’s changed.”
? “Right now, he’s nowhere near the player that he was.”
Jason Cundy thinks Virgil van Dijk’s injury has changed his ability ? pic.twitter.com/cfrzThwnba
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 13, 2022
Liverpool signed Van Dijk from Southampton back in January 2018 and he’s sure to go down as one of their best players of the Jurgen Klopp era.
Still, for now, it remains to be seen if he’s really having the same positive impact for LFC, or if they might do well to bring in a long-term replacement for him in the near future.