Virgil van Dijk could soon follow Mohamed Salah in committing his future to Liverpool, in what would be a major coup for the club. While the signs are extremely positive, cold water has been poured on one theory regarding the timescales.
After a season of so much uncertainty away from the pitch, Arne Slot now seems to have a pretty concrete idea of who he will be able to count upon next season. Salah is locked in, Van Dijk looks to be heading in a similar direction, and Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to be on his way to Real Madrid.
That departure would be far from ideal, but Liverpool will be glad to finally have a degree of certainty. To that end, it will be a relief when the Van Dijk part of the equation is fully finalized.
There was a suggestion that the deal could even be confirmed by the club today, forming a kind of double announcement alongside Salah. Such optimism was buoyed by Fabrizio Romano, who reported that all of the details of the agreement have now been wrapped up and approved by lawyers.
He even felt sufficiently confident to declare Salah and Van Dijk “confirmed”, with both deals set to run for two years. And some Liverpool fans noticed that today’s date is the 11th day of the fourth month — with Salah and Van Dijk’s numbers being 11 and 4 respectively.
But any thought of Van Dijk’s new deal being announced today appears to be a little hasty. For one thing, Romano only said that the defender would put pen to paper “before the end of the season”, which still leaves weeks of potential dates for the final confirmation.
And shutting the theory down entirely, James Pearce from The Athletic reported that Van Dijk’s deal will not be announced today. So if you’re thinking of staying up for it, don’t bother.
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Still, it seems like confirmation is firmly on the horizon, with a total agreement in place. Liverpool supporters will be impatient for the official announcement, finally putting an end to the speculation — but for the first time in months, there is no need to worry about the captain’s future.
Van Dijk was named captain of the club by Jurgen Klopp in the summer of 2023, following the departure of Jordan Henderson. He was a pivotal figure long before that, having proved a truly transformative arrival when he signed in January 2018.
If the new deal runs for two years as expected, then Van Dijk could extend his stay at Anfield to just shy of 10 years in total. He will hopefully lift a few more trophies in that time, and will certainly go down as an all-time club legend.
A penny for Alexander-Arnold’s thoughts? With Salah and Van Dijk’s deals set to be confirmed at different times, the full-back will have to watch two full days of these star players receiving the adulation of an adoring public, something he seems set to turn his back on.
But from a Liverpool persepctive, two out of three isn’t bad, and it will move forward with the players who want to be there. And whenever Van Dijk does follow Salah in putting pen to paper, as now looks inevitable, it will be another major victory for the club.
