Virgil van Dijk’s struggles at Liverpool will not bring any danger to his chances of going to the World Cup with the Netherlands.
That’s according to journalists Valentijn Driessen and Mike Verweij. Their comments on the Kick-off podcast have been relayed by Voetbal Primeur.
Van Dijk has found himself facing criticism this season as Liverpool have struggled to defend their title.
He was in imperious form last season but has struggled this season as Liverpool have lost nine of their 14 games across all competitions. He’s looked far from the levels he once set, with a mistake against PSV Eindhoven in the 4-1 defeat at the end of November evident of that.
He committed a strange handball to hand PSV a penalty and the lead in that game. That was seen as a clear sign that the Dutchman is struggling at this moment in time.
That will likely be of concern to the Netherlands national team set up. Van Dijk is current Netherlands captain and very much a key player for Ronald Koeman’s side. Both journalists, though, insist that his performances at Liverpool won’t make any difference to that ahead of the World Cup.
“What Van Dijk does at Liverpool, Koeman doesn’t care about,” Driessen begins in the Kick-off podcast.
“That’s also evident with Nathan Aké. He only sits on the bench and comes on occasionally at Manchester City. He’s also in the squad every time. All the players are crazy about him.
“For Koeman, that’s a no-brainer. We can speculate about it, but he’s simply a central defender for the Dutch national team.”
“It’s essentially a non-discussion,” added Verweij.
“I also think he’s getting a disproportionate amount of criticism. He certainly doesn’t always play well, but the World Cup isn’t being played tomorrow. Friday is just the World Cup draw. He still has a few months to get back into shape.”
