Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is still waiting for a new contract offer as he enters the final 12 months of his current deal but is fully committed to helping new head coach Arne Slot as the club transitions to the post-Jurgen Klopp era.
Van Dijk, along with Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, are all out of contract next summer and while the Netherlands international admits “change is sometimes a little bit scary” he trusts the club to make the right decisions following Klopp’s departure after eight-and-a-half years.
“My future is not important at the moment. At the moment there is nothing for me to say,” said the 32-year-old defender after the club bade an emotional farewell to Klopp following the 2-0 victory over Wolves.
“Nothing has changed and nothing is on the table either. No changes in my situation at all.
“The only thing I can say now is if I have a farewell I don’t think I would keep it dry (not cry) because that was something I was very surprised with with him (Klopp).”
Slot was on Monday evening officially confirmed as Klopp’s replacement, having signed off at Feyenoord by stating Anfield was his next destination.
A 21-year-old Van Dijk, while at Groningen, actually played against Slot in February 2013 in his final season as a player for PEC Zwolle but he has started to do his research on his compatriot.
Slot has a huge job following Klopp and Euro 2024 will complicate his pre-season plans as he tries to get to know his new squad but Van Dijk has publicly offered one piece of advice regarding his summer preparations.
“One thing I do know is we need a good break after our tournament because otherwise we will be in trouble as well going into the season,” he added.
We need a good break after our tournament because otherwise we will be in trouble as well going into the season— Virgil van Dijk on his need for a good summer break
“Hopefully the new manager will look into that as well.”
On what the future may hold under Slot, Van Dijk said: “I am very curious and have a lot of questions all the time. We will see; the Premier League and Liverpool is obviously a different ball game but we are here for him, I’ll be here for him whatever he needs.
“It is all about sticking together and giving him the chance of showing what he is capable of with the other guys who will come in.
“He probably knows already but everyone knows our expectations are always huge and it is about managing that in the right way and getting the maximum out of all of our players.
“It starts with having a good break and then we are ready to go again.”
The obvious concern is that there will be a drop-off in performance with Klopp no longer at the helm in a similar way to what happened at Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
“I don’t want to compare our situation to other teams but I can only see what is in there (the dressing room) and how we have been performing the whole season,” he said.
“There is so much room for improvement, so much room to develop, personally as players but definitely as a group in certain situations and it will.
“Change is sometimes a little bit scary as you are in the unknown but the only thing you can do is trust the club and we will find out how it looks when we come back and report for pre-season.”
