Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been told he has not been the same standard of player since suffering his horrendous anterior cruciate ligament injury back in October 2020.
The Netherlands international was on the receiving end of a particularly brutal challenge from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford during a heated Merseyside derby clash two years ago. As a result, the Reds stalwart missed out on the rest of that season and Liverpool's attempt at retaining their first Premier League title in three decades subsequently fell apart.
Van Dijk returned in time for the opening day of the following season to help his side win two domestic trophies as well as reach the Champions League final and take the title right to the wire before heartache on the final day. The centre-back was named in the PFA Team of the Year for his efforts, but one ex-Liverpool star isn't entirely convinced.
Former Red Danny Murphy believes Van Dijk has failed to reach the heights of his old self pre-injury since he sustained the serious knock. The entire Liverpool back-line have been shaky at times so far this term, keeping just two clean sheets from their opening six fixtures.
Murphy was damning in his assessment of what he has seen from Van Dijk this campaign, telling talkSPORT: "He's not up to his level. Before his injury he was arguably looking like one of the best centre-halves we've ever seen.
"The injury, which is a huge one and he’s come back from, although he's not had problems in missing games, I think psychologically he’s not in the same place. What I mean by that is not wanting to be as physically engaged with players and tackles.
"He's playing within himself a little bit and protecting himself a little bit without knowing it. I’ve played with players who have had ACL injuries before and when they come back you can see them doing it.
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"I think there's maybe a little bit of staying out of trouble. You could argue the way he plays he doesn't get himself in that much trouble anyway. But there is always that thing in the back of your mind when you've had a bad injury, I think."
Van Dijk has not been the only Reds regular that could be deemed guilty of underperforming, with Jurgen Klopp's side yet to get a string of wins under their belt.
Liverpool's hit-and-miss form has left them sitting seventh in the Premier League table, five points adrift of long-term title rivals Manchester City while they are also six points behind current league-leaders Arsenal.
Their bid to go on better than last season's showing in the Champions League starts on Wednesday night when Van Dijk and co. make the trip to Napoli for the first game of their 2022/23 European campaign.
