Virgil van Dijk: The Constant in Liverpool's Transition
Virgil van Dijk has spent a career making chaos look calm. Now, as Liverpool’s defence is ripped up and rewritten around him, the captain has never been more central to what happens next at Anfield.
He turned 35 last month. He is into the final year of the two-year extension he signed in April 2025. On paper, this is the stage when a club begins to plan the farewell tour, to gently lower the curtain on a modern great.
On the pitch and inside the dressing room, nothing about Van Dijk suggests a man winding down.
The last pillar standing
Look at what surrounds him.
Giovanni Leoni is 19. Jeremy Jacquet is 21. Both are yet to play a single Premier League minute for Liverpool. Joe Gomez is battling injuries again. Ronald Araujo is expected to arrive from Barcelona on an emergency loan.
In the middle of that uncertainty stands Van Dijk, the one constant for Andoni Iraola as the new head coach steps into one of the most scrutinised jobs in football.
Even in his mid-30s, Van Dijk remains an elite defender and a heavyweight voice behind the scenes. He is the reference point for a back line being rebuilt on the fly, the player young centre-backs will study and lean on as the season bites.
The irony is that nobody has been asked to carry more over the past year.
A brutal workload
No outfield player in Europe’s top five leagues played more minutes than Van Dijk last season. Before the World Cup, he had already logged 5,841 minutes. Then he went to Qatar and played every minute of the Netherlands’ run to the last-32.
By the time he flew back, the total stood at 6,141 minutes across 69 appearances for club and country. An average of 89 minutes per game. For a 35-year-old who suffered a serious ACL injury in October 2020, it is a staggering load.
It was heavy enough for Van Dijk to do something he rarely does: ask for more time off.
He returned to action on Sunday in a 3-2 pre-season defeat to Monaco and, speaking afterwards, explained why this summer had to be different.
"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.
The work with Iraola, he added, has started smoothly. "It has been absolutely fine [working with Iraola], we had a great conversation in the first week when it got announced and 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."
There was respect, too, for what has just gone. "Nothing to take away from Arne and his staff, we had an amazing time together, obviously last year a disappointment. 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."
Skipping America, saving himself
The pressure finally told on his body and mind last year. So when the club mapped out their pre-season tour of the United States, Van Dijk made a call.
He asked to stay home.
Van Dijk revealed he personally requested to skip the tour after his three-week, post-World Cup break. Instead of long flights, hotel beds and jet lag, he wanted the controlled environment of the AXA Training Centre.
"I definitely asked for a good break because I felt like I needed it, not only physically but mentally as well," he said.
"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 is what longevity looks like at the top level now: ruthless choices, careful planning, no romance about pre-season fanfare when your legs have already given you everything.
‘Are you going to say I’m 35 and I can’t do it?’
The question, inevitably, is whether he can keep doing this. Van Dijk’s answer comes with a flash of defiance.
"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."
There is no hint of a farewell speech in his words. Only a captain who still sees standards to set.
"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."
A new era, same responsibility
Around him, Liverpool are changing at speed.
Ibrahima Konate has gone. Andy Robertson has gone. Mohamed Salah has gone. That follows a major overhaul of the squad only a year earlier. For a player heading into his 10th season at Anfield, the landscape looks very different.
"It definitely feels like a bit of a transition, for sure," Van Dijk said. "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."
The squad will evolve. New defenders will arrive, young ones will grow, others will move on again. But for now, in a defence under reconstruction, Liverpool’s future still rests on the shoulders of a 35-year-old centre-back who refuses to accept he is nearing the end.
The club are entering a transition. Van Dijk is treating it like a challenge.
