When Jurgen Klopp explained his reasoning behind substituting Virgil van Dijk at half-time in Liverpool’s 3-1 loss to Brentford on Monday, fears of a potential spell on the sidelines were quickly allayed.
“Virgil felt a little bit in the muscle and said it is fine, and he is a very good judge of these kind of things,” the German told reporters. “But I didn’t want to take any risks. The physios looked quite happy when I said we don’t take risks. It’s not an injury, he just felt the intensity.”
Yet just two days later and it has emerged that such a belief was premature. Van Dijk has actually suffered a hamstring injury and is now poised to miss the rest of January.
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Further assessments this week will give a clearer indication as to how long the defender will be out of action for, with vital Premier League clashes away at Brighton and at home to Chelsea following Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Wolves. And while the 31-year-old will have likely sat out the clash with the West Midlands outfit anyway, it’s a different story in the English top-flight.
An ever-present in the Premier League so far this season, the second half at Brentford were the first league minutes the Dutchman had missed. Meanwhile, he was absent from the starting XI for just four league games last year following his return from a serious ACL injury, missing two games mid-season after testing positive for Covid-19 before a knee injury suffered in the FA Cup final saw him sit out the Reds’ final two clashes with Southampton and Wolves.
It remains to be seen just how long Liverpool will have to do without Van Dijk’s services, but they are covered at least with Ibrahima Konate, Joel Matip, and Joe Gomez vying to start in his absence. Meanwhile, fifth-choice option Nat Phillips will provide additional depth.
As a result, it would seem that Van Dijk’s lay-off could, once again, end any chance of Phillips being granted a Reds exit this month despite his lack of game-time so far this season. The 25-year-old has made four appearances for Liverpool during the current campaign, having been limited to three outings during the first half of last season prior to joining AFC Bournemouth on loan.
Having shone when making 20 appearances for the Reds in 2020/21, in the absence of the injured Van Dijk, Matip, and Gomez, to help Liverpool qualify for the Champions League against the odds, Phillips has pretty much been expected to move on permanently ever since. He has proven himself in the Premier League after all, and deserves far more than his current reserve role at Anfield.
Yet after seeing a permanent move to Swansea City fall through in the summer of 2020, off the back of a successful loan move to VfB Stuttgart, he has repeatedly found himself remaining on Merseyside against the odds.
When welcoming Van Dijk, Matip, and Gomez back from season-ending injuries in the summer of 2021, Liverpool opted to keep hold of the 25-year-old just in case any of the trio suffered setbacks following their returns. But come January 2022 they were willing to sanction a permanent exit, only for no suitable bid to be forthcoming.
While their stance had then been that Phillips wasn’t available on loan, they ended up sanctioning a temporary move to AFC Bournemouth with the defender going on to help the Cherries win promotion back to the Premier League. He had then been expected to depart permanently off the back of such success last summer, with the South Coast side tipped to bring the player, but again no such move materialised.
The January transfer window would have offered Phillips his latest chance to depart in search of further game-time, on loan at least, but Van Dijk’s hamstring injury is likely to ensure that any decision on his future is put off until the very end of the month. Depending on severity, he could find himself needed as back-up at Anfield during the second half of the season.
Such a situation is reminiscent of the plights the likes of Lucas Leiva and Xherdan Shaqiri faced in recent years under Klopp, where it seemed with each passing transfer window that they were in talks regarding a Liverpool exit, only to end up staying put.
Of course Billy Koumetio’s imminent recall from his season-long loan with Austria Vienna will provide additional depth, but such a decision is unlikely to have been taken with Van Dijk and Phillips in mind.
Meanwhile, there is a further knock-on effect if Phillips does end up staying put at Liverpool in January. The defender is one of the few players in the Reds squad who they could have considered selling and hoped to receive a considerable transfer fee.
Despite Liverpool’s obvious need for a new midfielder this month, Anfield sources stress that a mid-season move for any such player remains unlikely following the signing of Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven for an initial £37m. Following the Dutchman’s arrival, Klopp admitted the deal could impact any future Liverpool business in January and that he doesn’t expect to “splash the cash” in this month’s transfer window as a result.
Such admissions seemingly suggest that if the Reds were to strengthen further in January, they would first need to sell players to help raise funds. If they now need to keep hold of Phillips, it limits their capability to do so further.
Only four days into the transfer window, there are sure to be plenty of twists and turns ahead throughout the rest of January. In the meantime, Liverpool will wait anxiously for Van Dijk’s scan results, with any lay-off having ramifications for the likes of Phillips and any future Reds transfer business.
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