Virgil van Dijk is 35, out of contract next summer and, by his own account, in no panic about it. Liverpool can't afford to be quite so relaxed. Their captain's future is going to hang over the rest of the season, and BBC Sport's Liverpool reporter Aadam Patel has set out why the call is harder than it looks for both sides.
What Van Dijk has said
Speaking to reporters at Selhurst Park after Sunday's game at Crystal Palace, Van Dijk said he would see what the season brings. If the contract is extended, fine. If not, he will go somewhere else. Patel notes that he walked over to the press and asked whether they wanted to talk to him, which is not how it normally works.
We have been here before. Two seasons ago he was in the same position, was just as calm about it, and signed a two-year deal in April 2025. The sense is that he wants to stay this time as well.
The numbers say he is still elite
One bad mistake against Villarreal in the Champions League aside, his standards have held. He has played every minute of Liverpool's Premier League campaign since the start of last season, and his partnership with summer signing Jeremy Jacquet keeps improving. A minor niggle has kept him out of the Netherlands squad this month, the first international window he has missed since Euro 2020.
Per 90 minutes in the league this season he averages 60.7 successful passes, wins possession 3.5 times and makes 7.1 clearances, winning 75% of his duels and 79% in the air. Go back to 2018-19, his first full season at Anfield, and the figures were 72.4 passes, 5.1 possession wins and 5.3 clearances, with 76% of duels and 75% of aerial duels won. So he passes less and recovers the ball less than the defender Jurgen Klopp had. He also clears more and wins more headers. That is not a player in freefall.
The Salah problem
Here is the difficulty. Liverpool's hierarchy watched Mohamed Salah produce an outstanding 2024-25 and then saw his numbers collapse the season after. They will not want to repeat that with another senior player on a big wage. Van Dijk did not take a pay cut in 2025 and is understood to earn around £400,000 a week.
The counter-argument is the hole he would leave. Liverpool have young centre-backs, with Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye all at the club. Joe Gomez, 29, is out of contract this summer too. There is an option to buy Ronald Araujo, 27, from Barcelona at the end of the season. None of that replaces the leadership. This is the captain who suggested to head coach Andoni Iraola that the squad visit the Anfield museum to learn about the club's history.
Milan, Juventus and a long wait
Patel does not expect anything to be settled soon. Relations between player and club are good, and it would not be a surprise if talks ran into 2027. Sporting director Julian Ward will treat it as a priority over the coming months.
From January, Van Dijk can sign a pre-contract with an overseas club. AC Milan and Juventus are monitoring him, and sources in Turkey hope he might follow Salah there if no extension is agreed. As things stand, though, a departure this summer would be a surprise.
If he is fit he will make his 390th Liverpool appearance against Manchester United after the international break, and he should reach 400 before the year is out, only the 28th player in the club's history to get there. His 31 Premier League goals are already a record for a Liverpool defender. Alan Hansen, who handed him the league trophy in 2025 at Van Dijk's own request, finished his career at Anfield in 1991. Whether Van Dijk does the same is now up to both of them.
Contract context: Virgil van Dijk, 35, joined Liverpool from Southampton for £75m in January 2018 and signed his current two-year deal in April 2025. It expires in summer 2027 and he can agree a pre-contract with a foreign club from January. Salary understood to be about £400,000 a week. Source: BBC Sport.
0 Comments