Virgil van Dijk has been hailed as one of the best defenders in the world by his international team-mate and centre-back partner, Matthijs de Ligt.
De Ligt was tentatively linked with a move to Liverpool this summer, though ended up signing for Bayern Munich in a £68million deal. The German giants will have hopes of challenging for the Champions League this season, particularly following the arrival of fellow Red Sadio Mane.
Surrounded by world class talent at his new employers, Bayern's new recruit also has plenty of people to learn from whenever representing the Netherlands. The 22-year-old is expected to feature in a three-man defence at this year's World Cup alongside Van Dijk and one other individual and has no doubt in his mind over the quality possessed by the Reds' £75million signing.
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Asked if he and Liverpool's No.4 could become the best defensive duo at the upcoming tournament, De Light told ESPN : “We could be, I don’t know. That’s not for us to decide or for us to say."
Expanding on the ability of Van Dijk, he added: "I think Virgil is one of the best centre-backs in the world. He is amazing. He has already shown for a couple of years in Liverpool that he is one of the best, if not the best. If we could be the best? I don’t know, the most important thing is that we play good as a team. You can play amazing as a partnership, but if the whole team is playing bad, it's going to be difficult.”
Van Dijk missed out on the Netherlands' most recent major tournament, making the choice to play no part in Euro 2020 as he continued his rehabilitation from his long-term ACL injury. Explaining this decision at the time to Liverpoolfc.com, the 31-year-old said: "With everything that is going on, I feel physically it is the right decision that I’ve decided not to go to the Euros and to go into my last phase of rehab during the off-season. So, the full focus will be on pre-season with the club and that’s a realistic goal, so I am looking forward to that."
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