Liverpool are moving closer to confirming Virgil van Dijk has signed a new contract with the club, as another of the Reds’ long-running sagas comes to an end.
The defender is expected to join Mohamed Salah in penning an extension at Anfield, ending two storylines that have rumbled on all season. Van Dijk’s commitment to Liverpool will be welcome news when the news is rubber stamped, with ex-Red Stephen Warnock claiming on Saturday that the Dutchman is even more important to the team than Salah.
The Liverpool skipper was seen at the club’s AXA Training Centre on Friday, just minutes before Arne Slot’s pre-match press conference and Van Dijk will almost certainly lead the side out once again at Anfield on Sunday against West Ham United.
Fans will likely use it as an opportunity to show their appreciation of Van Dijk and Salah, although just one extension is currently confirmed. A second won’t be far away, according to Fabrizio Romano.
“All details of Virgil van Dijk’s new deal are agreed and documents have been approved by lawyers,” he wrote on X on Saturday. “Next step: official statement.”
A report in the Times also claimed similar, with the contract uncertainty unlikely to drag into next week. “Virgil van Dijk will also put pen to paper on a two-year deal in the coming days and will almost certainly be the best-paid centre back in the world,” the newspaper reported on Saturday.
The 33-year-old has played every minute of Liverpool’s Premier League campaign and is on the verge of claiming a second league winners’ medal of his career. He has enjoyed another stellar campaign but underwhelmed last week at Fulham and is hoping to end the season strongly, starting against West Ham.
“I have been saying for a long time now that there is still a big job to be done,” Van Dijk wrote in his pre-match column. “Everyone on the outside will talk, but that’s not something we should ever be concerned by. We know exactly what is required over the coming weeks, and we know the standards and the mentality needed if we are to achieve our goals.
“As I always say, everything starts with hard work. We must be all-in on Sunday, and in each of our remaining games. We must be together, fully focused and ready to give absolutely everything for the cause. That is what has put us where we are now, and it is what will get us to where we want to be at the end of the season too.”
