Van Dijk beat Sterling, Aguero, Bernardo Silva, Mane and Hazard to award
Monday 29 April 2019 15:40, UK
Raheem Sterling has been outstanding this season - off the pitch as much on it - but the PFA Players' Player of the Year award is Virgil van Dijk's and there can be no doubt that he deserves it, writes Nick Wright.
Liverpool's trophy hunt has not yet reached its conclusion, but it has been an extraordinary season already. Jurgen Klopp's side have eclipsed their highest Premier League points total with games to spare, and managed it at the same time as reaching a Champions League semi-final.
Liverpool's attacking potency is nothing new. In fact, their Premier League goal total is the same it was last season. It is at the other end that things have changed. Liverpool have conceded just 20 times in 36 Premier League games and kept 20 clean sheets. None of it would have been possible without Van Dijk.
The Dutchman has been imperious, his consistency remarkable. He has started every Premier League game, producing performances so commanding that opposition strikers no longer even try to take the ball past him. If there is one statistic to sum it up, it is that in 3,205 minutes on the pitch, he has not been dribbled around once.
Van Dijk has struck fear into his opponents while at the same time inspiring his team-mates. Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip have looked far better players alongside him and his defensive authority has also liberated Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose marauding runs from full-back have set up a combined total of 19 Premier League goals.
It is difficult to measure the value of Van Dijk's leadership definitively, but there are certainly numbers to underline his defensive influence. According to Opta, the 27-year-old has made more clearances, more blocks and more interceptions than any of his team-mates. He ranks top for duels and has won more than twice as many aerials as anyone else.
He has delivered at such consistently high levels that it is not easy to pick out individual performances, but his flawless display against Everton in March stands out.
Liverpool dropped two points that day, drawing 0-0, but it might have been three if not for the giant figure repelling every Everton attack in the heart of their defence. "Unbelievable," was Jamie Carragher's verdict on Sky Sports. "Today, if he's not playing, I think Everton win the game."
Then, of course, there was the crucial 2-1 win over Tottenham a few weeks later. The game was decided by Toby Alderweireld's late own goal, but it should be remembered for the outstanding piece of two-on-one defending from Van Dijk which denied Moussa Sissoko and Heung-Min Son with the scores poised at 1-1.
"Young defenders, you must watch Virgil van Dijk," purred Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville afterwards.
The margins could hardly have been finer this season. Liverpool have been neck-and-neck with Manchester City for months. Klopp's men have won eight Premier League games by a one-goal margin. And time and again it is Van Dijk who has made the difference.
In fact, he has made invaluable contributions in attack as well as defence. His tally of seven goals in all competitions underlines his aerial threat and there have even been four assists - including the stunning, long-range pass to set up Sadio Mane's opener in Liverpool's Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
The hope for Liverpool now is that they will finish this extraordinary season with the silverware their giant leap forward surely deserves. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. But what is certain is that Van Dijk will be right at the heart of it. He is the PFA Players' Player of the Year for 2018/19 and he is a worthy winner.
"He looks like a man playing in a kids' game. He's playing against some of the top players in European football in the Premier League, but everything is so easy. You actually feel like he's not getting tested enough. You still feel like there are more gears for him to go into."
He's playing against some of the top players in European football in the Premier League, but everything is so easy.
"I think it's a really good sign in a player when you never see him running 100 per cent and he looks like he has a bit to go again. He's a big powerful man so you're not going to out-muscle him. He's got silky skills, the skills of a really technical midfielder player. I don't think you'll get the ball off him in a telephone box! He's the full package, you've seen his personality and he seems to be a really solid citizen."
He's got silky skills, the skills of a really technical midfielder player.
"I think Virgil van Dijk has to be made Player of the Year. He has been absolutely fantastic. If they can win the league, it will be one of the buys of the century, but he has been the most consistent. People like Eden Hazard have been absolutely astounding at times, but not as consistent as Van Dijk."
"He's unbelievable. He's so good, it's scary. He's the best in the world, and I think by a long way, as a defensive centre-half. Some players just see Van Dijk and kick the ball away. I can't talk highly enough of him. He's Alan Hansen. You can put his kit back in the bag for next week, you don't even have to wash it, he can wear it again. He's absolutely different class."
