Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk gave his reason why he is scared of Jurgen Klopp leaving the club as manager

The defender from the Netherlands has broken his silence over what is expected to be an emotional conclusion to the season at Liverpool.
The fact that Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool this summer is something that Virgil van Dijk has said he is dreading.

It was revealed in January that the German will be leaving his position as manager of the Reds at the end of the current season, after having spent nine seasons at Anfield. It has also been announced that assistant managers Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz, as well as elite development coach Vitor Matos, will be leaving their positions immediately.

A number of club icons who have won every major honor with the club in recent years have already left Liverpool. Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, James Milner, and Fabinho are the most recent players to leave the club, following in the footsteps of Sadio Mane, Divock Origi, and Gini Wijnaldum, who left the club in the summer of last year.

Van Dijk has admitted that he would find it difficult to say goodbye to Klopp, the man who brought him to Anfield in a club-record £75 million signing in January of 2018. However, Klopp’s exit will be accompanied with an entirely new level of emotion.

It is usually really tough for me to say goodbye to someone, because I am a pretty emotional person,” he remarked. “I am quite an emotional guy.” “That is going to be the situation without a doubt now.

It’s not just the manager that leaves; there are a lot of other folks as well. We could go on and on about Pepijn (Lijnders), who is a significant member of the crew, and what we could say.

It is not something that I am looking forward to, but if we win awards together, we can make it a very pleasant experience because we will be saying goodbye.

“That is the way that life occurs. At the club, you see each other virtually every day, and in fact, you see each other more frequently than you see your own wife and children. You go through the high points of your lives together, but you also hit the low points.

Because of this, a very close link is formed, which is especially important at a club like Liverpool, which is like a large family.

“And then, it’s all of a sudden over after a few years have passed. Although I have high hopes, I am actually pretty confident that the club will be able to maintain that one-of-a-kind environment of mutual connection for the foreseeable future.

Van Dijk has at least contributed to ensuring that Klopp’s final season at Liverpool is accompanied by trophies, as he scored the game-winning goal in Liverpool’s League Cup final victory over Chelsea a month ago. It was his first trophy since being chosen club captain the previous summer, and he also won the Alan Hardaker Trophy for the second time after being selected man of the match. Both of these accomplishments came before he was awarded the trophy.

Van Dijk is determined to win more titles for both his club and his country as he continues to put a poor 2022/23 season behind him. He said that the day was ideal, and he is determined to win more honors for both.

“I had thought of this beforehand because it ending a perfect day in the right way,” he recalled to Voetball International. “It was the perfect way to end a perfect day.” In addition to the fact that I scored the game-winning goal, my family was present in the stands to witness the action.

Overall, that made me feel a great deal of pride in my role as captain. There is nothing that could have been more satisfying for me than being presented with an award, which was my very first in the role of captain, alongside the manager who has been and continues to be of such tremendous significance to the club as well as to me personally.

As a result of Liverpool’s failure to qualify for the Champions League and the Netherlands’ early elimination from the 2022 World Cup, the Dutchman was subjected to criticism from the outside world throughout the previous season.

The criticism that Van Dijk received was taken into consideration while he was back to his best this season. Van Dijk, who will be out of contract at Anfield the following year, also hinted at what he hopes to accomplish in the years to come.

“I’m one of the contributing players at Liverpool and Oranje,” he added. “My performance at Oranje and Liverpool was not very good last year.” “I am aware of that, and I am pleased with that.

I had a lot of success in the games I played last year, but I also had a lot of failures in the duels I participated in, which were not up to the standard I had set for myself.

When that happens, you are forced to deal with the criticism, and I must confess that, just like any other human being, I am not always immune to that. I am fully aware that taking criticism is a necessary aspect of the job, and I have no problem with it. But there are times when you are better able to deal with it than other times.

“One of the things that I truly do have as a goal is to extract everything that is contained within me from it. In the coming years, we will see what the future holds.

On both a physical and cerebral level, I am feeling strong and at ease. I really want to do everything I can to win. The situation with Liverpool is looking promising at the moment, and we still have the opportunity to win prestigious awards such as the title and the Europa League.

As the captain of this magnificent club, I would like to be the recipient of those awards, and if everything goes according to plan, I could also be able to hold up a trophy as the captain of the Dutch national team at some point in the future.