Ryan Gravenberch has revealed that his national teammate Virgil van Dijk pushed him to accept a move to Liverpool.
The 22-year-old has been arguably Liverpool’s best player this season, and fans can thank none other than the club captain for bringing the midfielder in last summer.
Speaking on the Liverpool FC YouTube channel, the Dutch international said: “Yeah, I had a couple of chats with him [Van Dijk] and he just spoke about this club that it is amazing. And that was pushing in my thoughts and that’s why I decided to come here.”
One has to wonder what kind of chats Richard Hughes and Co. would have had if the Merseysiders had failed to sign the former Bayern Munich star.
The club was extremely lucky to have Gravenberch available to mould under new head coach Arne Slot, especially after missing out on key target Martin Zubimendi in the summer.
Van Dijk’s fondness for Liverpool may aid in contract negotiations.
We may reasonably conclude from our midfielder’s statements that Van Dijk enjoys playing for Liverpool Football Club. One would hope that this means the odds are on our side when it comes to our January 2018 signing extending his stay at Anfield.
The Dutch captain’s current contract is set to expire at the end of the season. However, he is said to have told his close friends that he wants to extend his contract with the club.
In defence of the difficult decision our sporting director, Richard Hughes, needs to make, the veteran centre-back will turn 34 before the start of the next campaign. With that in mind, any potential contract offer on the table is unlikely to be the biggest of the No.4’s career to date.
Nonetheless, it would be remiss of us to ignore the fact that the powerful defender has shown no signs of slowing down and is still quite easily one of the best players in the world.
Gravenberch’s statements clearly show that the former UEFA Men’s Player of the Year has great expectations for the club he captains. Further to the point, he has already stated that he is willing to stay at Anfield for the next two years.
Either way, it wouldn’t harm Liverpool to tug on his emotional attachment to the club in order to urge him to stay at L4 for a few more years.
