---
title: "Former Liverpool man likens Van Dijk’s leadership to that of Carragher"
canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/news/former-liverpool-man-likens-van-dijks-leadership-to-that-of-carragher/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sam Brown"
section: "Liverpool News"
published: "2019-01-21T21:01:35Z"
modified: "2019-01-21T21:02:12Z"
---

# Former Liverpool man likens Van Dijk’s leadership to that of Carragher

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.

![Bryn Lennon/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/readliverpoolfc/2019/01/1081294932.jpg)

[Quoted by Sky Sports,](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/11614007/virgil-van-dijk-leads-liverpool-like-jamie-carragher-says-emile-heskey) 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.