New Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has explained what his side were ‘missing’ last season.
The Reds experienced a dismal campaign which saw them fail to pick up any silverware and also miss out on a top four finish for just the second time since Jurgen Klopp’s arrival back in 2015.
The Dutchman insists everyone at the club needs to pull together this term and despite labelling the club’s business so far this summer as ‘interesting’ he’s confident that we can compete for major honours again next season.
“I think that was a big thing that was missing: the consistent level that we showed over the last couple of years was missing,” the Dutchman told Liverpoolfc.com. “And obviously everyone wants to make this right. We all feel we have to do this together again each and every day, each and every game, with the fans as well.
“Obviously it has been quite an interesting summer with players obviously leaving and new players coming in, this little transition that is going on. We also have to be a bit patient but we want to be there and we want to show what we’re capable of because we have a fantastic group of players, staff, fans, stadium, we shouldn’t even discuss that.
“But we can be up there again. It’s all about doing it together with the consistency and hopefully we can show it.”
‘Interesting’ is a good way to describe our transfer business so far.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai were brought to the club which understandably resulted in there being plenty of optimism amongst Liverpool supporters about what could be achieved next term.
They’re two quality players who instantly strengthen our starting XI and bring the sort of tenacity and hunger that our engine room lacked last season.
The exit of Jordan Henderson coupled with the impending departure of Fabinho to Saudi Arabia, however, means that another two signings are needed in midfield.
Romeo Lavia is the main name being linked with a move to the club but it remains to be seen whether we’re willing to meet Southampton’s asking price of £50m for the 19-year-old.
Our squad is still stacked with talent, though, and it’s great to see van Dijk is confident about what we can achieve next season.
#Ep83 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones