{"id":2011,"date":"2019-02-28T10:24:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T10:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.incirliseviye.com\/2019\/02\/28\/van-dijk-billed-as-the-ultimate-centre-back-by-liverpool-legend-who-once-filled-that-role\/"},"modified":"2019-02-28T10:24:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T10:24:29","slug":"van-dijk-billed-as-the-ultimate-centre-back-by-liverpool-legend-who-once-filled-that-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=2011","title":{"rendered":"Van Dijk billed as the 'ultimate centre-back' by Liverpool legend who once filled that role"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former Reds defender Sami Hyypia considers a man acquired by Jurgen Klopp for a record-setting \u00a375m to be one of the very best in the business <\/div>\n
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Virgil van Dijk is the \u201cultimate centre-back\u201d, says Liverpool legend Sami Hyypia, with the Reds having got an immediate return on their record-breaking \u00a375 million ($97m) investment.<\/p>\n

Jurgen Klopp moved to make the Netherlands international the most expensive defender in world football during the January transfer window of 2018.<\/p>\n

He was acquired to plug the gaps in a leaky back four which had been stunting progress at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Article continues below<\/span> <\/div>\n
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Van Dijk slotted seamlessly into the fold and is considered to have contributed significantly to the progress made on Merseyside over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

Liverpool are now in Premier League title contention and pursuing further progress in the Champions League, with defensive strength having been found.<\/p>\n

Brazil international goalkeeper Alisson has also made an important impact since arriving in England, but Hyypia believes it is a fellow centre-half who is very much the main man.<\/p>\n

The ex-Reds star told PA Sport<\/em>: \u201cI saw it right away when he came that he would be a very important part of the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cStraightaway he was organising the defence, he was the leader at the back, and as time has gone on he is even more important.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gives confidence to the players and makes many other players play better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very difficult to find a weakness. He is an ultimate centre-back and it would be a pleasure to play alongside him he is so good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is so calm on the ball, he never seems in a hurry and he trusts his skills on the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the right decision [to sign him] because he is so important for the team, it doesn\u2019t matter how much he cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Dijk, who has already passed the 50-appearance mark for Liverpool, will play no part in the Reds\u2019 next outing.<\/p>\n

He is set to serve a European ban when Klopp\u2019s side play host to Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the first leg of a heavyweight Champions League last-16 encounter.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman will be available, though, for a crunch clash with Manchester United and further Premier League outings against Watford, Everton and Burnley before a return date with Bayern is taken in.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Reds defender Sami Hyypia considers a man acquired by Jurgen Klopp for a record-setting \u00a375m to be one of the very best in the business Virgil van Dijk is the \u201cultimate centre-back\u201d, says Liverpool legend Sami Hyypia, with the Reds having got an immediate return on their record-breaking \u00a375 million ($97m) investment. Jurgen Klopp … <\/p>\n

Read more “Van Dijk billed as the 'ultimate centre-back' by Liverpool legend who once filled that role”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-premier-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}