Virgil Van Dijk doesn’t need the critics to tell him that his form hasn’t been good enough.
But after a week which saw the Liverpool defender return to his humble roots in Holland , the 31-year-old admitted that the challenge is to show he is not a spent force.
Van Dijk took time out from international duty to return to his hometown of Breda for the official opening of a Johan Cruyff football court on the housing estate when he spent his formative years and next to the Olympia Catholic School he attended as a boy.
So it was a good time for Van Dijk to assess one of the toughest years of his career, when pundits like Marco van Basten, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have gone in with both feet.
Van Dijk, who finished just seven points behind Lionel Messi in the 2019 Ballon d’Or vote, revealed that he felt a mental strain he has never experienced before.
Van Dijk said: “I don't feel too big to be vulnerable. It has been quite an intense season, with many ups and downs and people must understand that we aren’t robots. It has been a year in which I learned a lot - especially off the pitch, and certainly mentally.
“In football it's never plain sailing - but this season was still quite a shock. Sometimes the criticism was just right, both on the team and on me individually. But quite often it was not quite right. Either way, you have to be able to deal with it - and I'm glad I came out of it well. Mentally, that’s not always easy.”
Van Basten’s verbal attack saw him accuse Van Dijk of “making a lot of noise without saying anything.”
Keane accused Liverpool of “defending like a pub team”, Neville said opposition players were attacking the Dutchman because they “now felt they had a chance” and Carragher reckoned “I’d take Van Dijk’s place.”
Van Dijk added: “Criticism is part of it - and it's certainly not a problem if it's justified. But a footballer knows when he has played well or badly. Some comments are also only intended to be controversial and are said just for the sake of saying them. There are so many platforms on which people can express their opinions these days.
“The problem is that, as a footballer, you can't really say much back. If you do that once, you immediately have the puppets dancing. I am someone who consciously doesn't read, listen or watch much. I can shut myself off from it. But you do get told a lot by other people - and then you can't escape it.”
When the going was at its toughest as Jurgen Klopp’s men struggled to maintain the standards that saw them go so desperately close to landing an historic quadruple in 2022, the Dutchman turned to his family, friends and the coaching staff at Anfield.
Van Dijk said: “I always talk to people who are close to me. That's really important. No-one is too big to talk or to make yourself vulnerable. At home I talk a lot with my wife and at the club we have enough people you can talk to who specialise in that. No player has a career with only highlights.
“But if criticism is fierce and negative, you can suffer as an athlete. The trick is to deal with it properly - and I'm quite happy how that has gone in the last few months.”
Liverpool’s late-season rally saw them qualify for the Europa League, while Holland’s hopes of winning the Nations League disappeared when they were beaten 4-2 by Croatia on Friday night.
Van Dijk said: “I still have two years left on my contract and I assume that they (Liverpool) still consider me important for the team. If not, I am sure I would have heard about it. My contact with the manager is good and I feel very positive about things again. The way we finished the season motivates me to go into pre-season with the new players who are coming in.”
