Liverpool: Souness ‘worried’ as ‘unhappy’ Reds star is tipped to join Euro giants – ‘they’d take him’
Graeme Souness reckons Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk could leave the Premier League giants in the summer as he is “obviously unhappy”.
A big summer is on the cards at Liverpool as they will head into next season with a new manager in the dugout with Arne Slot set to replace Jurgen Klopp.
Michael Edwards recently returned to the Premier League giants as FSG’s CEO of Football and one of his main objectives in the summer will be to retain Van Dijk, who is due to be out of contract in 2025.
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Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are also due to be out of contract in 2025 and all three players are being linked with moves elsewhere ahead of the summer.
Earlier this week, a report claimed Slot is looking to hold ‘urgent talks’ with Van Dijk amid interest from Champions League semi-finalists Borussia Dortmund.
Souness has explained why he is “worried” about Van Dijk, who is “obviously unhappy” and could sign for Real Madrid.
“If you’d asked me about this a month ago, I would’ve said whoever takes over from Jürgen Klopp is inheriting the most fabulous situation, but I can’t say that anymore. With the way that they’ve performed this month, Liverpool have now got a big question mark against their character,” Souness said on William Hill’s Three Up Front podcast.
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“The fact that Virgil van Dijk’s contract end is coming up worries me, he’s 33 in July, and if his agent were to call up the sporting director at Real Madrid, they’d take him. I just look at him now and the noise he’s been making, which he hasn’t done throughout his career, and I think he’s obviously unhappy.
“He’ll have asked questions about the new manager already and will be the one that Arne Slot has to win over. Slot must get Van Dijk onside – he’s the captain – but Van Dijk might not fancy him.
“He might’ve heard something on the grapevine and may think that this guy won’t take the team where they want to be, the clock is ticking on his career, maybe he needs to go someplace else to win more silverware. He has won two of the big ones with Liverpool, but he’s not a serial winner.”
Souness is concerned that Van Dijk may not “fancy” Slot, but the Netherlands international has described the Liverpool-bound manager as “one of the better Dutch coaches.
He told Viaplay Sport: “I find it difficult to answer now. Of course, but I think Arne Slot is perhaps one of the better Dutch coaches at the moment.
“I think the way he plays and the philosophy he has means he could be a Liverpool coach. Well, I think what I also read and hear is that it is far from over and we’ll see and next year we’ll focus on that. Yes, but just a little longer.”
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