Former Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has bizarrely stated that Manchester City would be ten points clear of Liverpool if they had “a [Virgil] van Dijk”.
The obvious fault is that the Reds are now 25 points clear of the Citizens and have won all but two games this season. At most – if the Mancs put in a perfect season – they could be five points ahead.
“I still think Man City are the best,” Warnock is quoted as saying by The Express. “If they got a van Dijk, I wouldn’t sign anyone else. I’d spend £200million on van Dijk.
“If they had a van Dijk in their team, they’d be 10 points in front. I don’t think there’s that much wrong with Man City other than a centre-half like that.”
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The former Cardiff man could of course be suggesting that if City started the season with van Dijk, and Liverpool were left with a gaping hole in their squad, then they could be ten points ahead.
If Jurgen Klopp’s team was weakened, and Pep Guardiola’s was strengthened, then it does become possible that we’d sit ten points behind City in this hypothetical scenario.
But simply saying ‘if they had their best player, they’d be better’ is simply farcical – in the same vein, if Real Madrid had Lionel Messi, they would be screaming away in the race for the Spanish title.