Steven Gerrard has revealed what he told Virgil van Dijk in a phone call with the current Liverpool captain prior to the latter’s history-making move to Anfield at the end of 2017.
Shortly after Christmas Day, the Reds clinched a £75m move for the then-Southampton centre-back in what was then an all-time record transfer fee for a defender (BBC Sport).
The Dutchman had also been the subject of strong interest from Manchester City (The Independent) before opting for the Merseysiders, and it’s now emerged that a conversation with one of his illustrious predecessors as LFC skipper helped to tip the scales in or favour.
Gerrard reveals his advice to Van Dijk
In an excerpt from Captains, a new LFC Original documentary (which’ll be released in full on All Red Video from 18 August) – shared via liverpoolfc.com – Gerrard recalled his discussion with Van Dijk before our current number 4 decided upon a move to Liverpool.
The 2005 Champions League winner said: “He phoned me at the time, actually. I knew his agent really well. It was City [or] Liverpool.
“He said to me, ‘I haven’t phoned you to sort of push me one way or the other, because I know which way you’re going to push me, but just tell me a little bit about Liverpool?’
“I just said to him, ‘Look, if it’s about what the clubs stand for and what the clubs are about, you’re wasting your time because I think you already know the answer to that.’ It was an interesting conversation and I was so happy that he chose us.”
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Van Dijk’s decision transformed Liverpool’s fortunes
We can be forever grateful that, partially thanks to the advice from Gerrard, Van Dijk chose to sign for Liverpool rather than Man City, even with the latter in the midst of a runaway Premier League triumph in which they achieved an English top-flight record points tally of 100.
The Reds’ defensive issues at the time were extensively documented, and it was no coincidence that 28 of the 38 league goals we conceded in the 2017/18 season happened before the Dutchman’s top-flight debut for his current club (we only shipped 22 in the following campaign with him ever-present).
Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens still enjoyed plenty of success even without Van Dijk, but LFC almost certainly wouldn’t have reached the same heights since 2018 if the centre-back had gone to the Etihad Stadium rather than Anfield.
Van Dijk’s greatness in L4 is contextualised by his ranking of eighth in the club-organised Liverpool’s Greatest poll earlier this summer, with the 35-year-old finishing ahead of other legendary figures such as Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan, Billy Liddell and Robbie Fowler.
His longevity was also highlighted by a remarkable statistic from last season when, at the age of 34, he surpassed Jamie Carragher’s modern-day record for the most minutes accumulated by an outfield player for LFC in a single campaign.
Having won two Premier League titles, the Champions League and several domestic cups in his time with the Reds, we’re sure that the Dutch colossus will feel he made the right choice after that phone call with Gerrard in the final few days of 2017!