Emile Heskey has compared Virgil van Dijk’s leadership to that of Jamie Carragher.
No stranger to seeing a leader in the heart of the defence, the former striker sees parallels between the old vice-captain and the Dutch colossus.
Quoted by Sky Sports, Heskey said:
When you look at Van Dijk and when you look at Liverpool, in essence they haven’t had that leader I would go as far back as Jamie Carragher.
Someone who really commands a defence. Someone who really stands out and is counted for. Someone who is marshalling people around. Now Van Dijk has come in and he seems to be that man.
He’s a great defender, he’s quick, he’s good in the air, he barks out orders. So what more do you need? It seems that everyone who plays alongside him [he] always brings out the best in them as well.
The impact of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool has truly been something to behold. Having now been a Red for a little over a year, you’d be hard-pressed to find a fan or pundit who wouldn’t sing his praises long into the night about how a once porous team became defensively coherent.
