Marco van Basten has criticised Virgil van Dijk for his performances for the national side during their preparations for the impending Qatar World Cup.
The tournament will disrupt the traditional domestic football calendar across Europe during November and December with a number of Liverpool stars expected to be heading to the Middle Eastern nation to compete for their country.
Despite the 31-year-old captaining the Dutch to two consecutive victories against Poland and Belgium recently, the Netherlands legend has highlighted something ‘strange’ about the defender’s performances.
“It is actually very strange that such a very good player does so little for the Dutch national team in the build-up,” he said speaking to Ziggo Sport (via Caught Offside).
Louis van Gaal’s side is now unbeaten in their last 15 games and will head into the World Cup full of confidence.
The Netherlands have also kept two clean sheets in as many games with Van Dijk netting the only effort in a victory over Belgium on Sunday.
These comments do therefore appear to come at a rather bizarre time from the former Ajax and AC Milan star.
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The ex-Southampton defender has admittedly had a far from ideal start to the season for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but he still remains one of the German’s most important players.
At Liverpool, the No. 4’s excellent long-range passing and reading of the game means he almost orchestrates the play from his natural central defensive position.
Let’s hope Van Dijk can now help us keep our sheets clean in the coming weeks as we look to move our way up the Premier League table.
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