Virgil van Dijk would be honoured to win this year’s Ballon d’Or award.
The central defender is the favourite for the gong, after helping Liverpool win the Champions League at the end of the 2018/19 campaign.
He also helped us to the best defensive record in the Premier League, 97 points and won the Player of the Year award as a result.
At international level, van Dijk captained the Netherlands to the final of the Nations League and has been practically faultless in every game he’s featured in.
“It’s an honour if people are talking about it, but what can I do?” our Dutchman told the official website.
“I have no influence on anything. The people that have an influence on it, they have to decide who’s going to win it. I can’t deny that I’ve had a pretty good season last year, so the only thing I can do now is just focus on the new season, getting fit, stay fit and hopefully get an even better season than I had last year.
“Maybe now, I don’t know,” when pressed on whether a defender could win the award for the first time since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006. “I can understand the fact that normally strikers or No.10s win these kind of awards because it’s more attractive to see. But maybe the time has come to change it.”
Lionel Messi is the best player on the planet, but when the pair faced each other, van Dijk ending up coming out on top – despite the Argentine’s world-class performance in the first-leg.
Hopefully van Dijk will begin the new campaign in similarly excellent form, with Liverpool near the top of the Premier League and in the cup competitions, too.
If we win the Community Shield and the Super Cup, that might help van Dijk’s case – although Alisson – who won the Copa America with Brazil – arguably has a shout himself!