Liverpool sit top of the Premier League after beating Crystal Palace this weekend – but Virgil van Dijk made one of his teammates aware of the standards they must hit early on in the encounter.
Diogo Jota struck in the ninth minute at Selhurst Park and it proved to be decisive as the Reds claimed all three points on offer.
The Anfield outfit are a point ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal at the summit of the top flight, with six wins and a defeat so far at the beginning of Arne Slot’s reign in charge, who replaced the departed Jurgen Klopp in the Liverpool dugout over the summer.
Van Dijk has been a key part of Liverpool’s success since his arrival at Anfield from Southampton in January 2018 for a £75 million transfer fee.
In that time, the Dutchman scored 24 goals in 279 appearances on Merseyside and has been one of the first names on the team sheet.
The 33-year-old has won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and two League Cups during a trophy laden spell at Anfield.
The Liverpool skipper’s contract is currently due to expire next summer, meaning as things stands he will be a free agent in nine months’ time, unless he pens fresh terms.
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One player who has been a teammate of Van Dijk’s since 2020 has been Greek international Kostas Tsimikas, who joined from Olympiacos for a reported fee of £11.75 million.
The left-back has 93 appearances in all competitions for the Anfield club and is yet to score his first Liverpool goal, and has been competition for Andy Robertson in that position.
Tsimikas started at left-back at Selhurst Park with Van Dijk to his right, and one moment early in the game saw the Dutchman leave his defensive colleague in no uncertain terms about the standards which must be reached.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Daniel Munoz attempted to deliver a cross, which Tsimikas would have been expected to prevent.
However, it was down to Van Dijk to come across and put in a block, and the central defender subsequently had an exchange with Tsimikas where he made his feelings clear and that he was ‘clearly unimpressed’ with the left-back over having to stop the cross, something he probably felt his team-mate ought to have done instead.
Fortunately for Tsimikas, Jota opened the scoring shortly afterwards, but the incident helped to show Van Dijk’s elite mentality and he is not afraid to make his feelings clear to his team-mates if standards are not up to scratch.
