Stam warns Liverpool against Van Dijk exit | OneFootball

Jaap Stam has warned Liverpool it will be difficult to replace Virgil van Dijk if the defender is allowed to leave next summer.

Van Dijk is out of contract at Liverpool at the end of the campaign with no extension to his deal agreed. Liverpool have submitted a proposal to the Dutch defender, though he will be free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with foreign sides in January.

The 33-year-old’s future is up in the air despite his continued importance to the Reds. Van Dijk ranks among the Premier League’s top players for clearances, interceptions, passes into the final third, aerial duels won and percentage of aerial duels won this season. His displays have helped the league leaders record the division’s best defensive record.

Former Manchester United defender Stam has said it would be a mistake to let his compatriot leave.

“Sir Alex Ferguson has said it was a mistake to sell me at Manchester United and Liverpool don’t want to make that same mistake with Virgil van Dijk,” Stam said, as per the Liverpool Echo.

“They are not in a position in which they need to let him go and even though he is 33, you cannot bring in a player of his level. If Virgil van Dijk leaves Liverpool then I could see him playing for a few years in the United States to see out his career, earning a lot of money.

“But I still see him as being a really important player at Liverpool and I can’t see why Liverpool wouldn’t try their best to keep him at the club because of that importance.

“I think he deserves a new contract and a new deal, maybe only for one season, and then you see where you go from there. You have to look at who would replace him in the transfer market or the academy but that’s extremely hard to do.

“It’s going to be very difficult to replace a player like Virgil and he deserves another one or two years, he’s shown he is still the best option for the club. I could see Virgil van Dijk saying in Europe, but he is playing in a Liverpool team that he knows very well and they have a real balance.

“If he goes and joins another club he will have new team-mates and his whole situation will change. You can say that the players at Bayern Munich or PSG aren’t up to the level of his team-mates at Liverpool.

“The style of play will change and it could be a bad thing for his career to leave. Look at how it was for Lionel Messi when he first joined PSG from Barcelona. It’s going to be a very important decision for him and the club and I think that Real Madrid might be the only good option for him in Europe at the moment.”

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