Virgil van Dijk pens new Liverpool contract to follow Mo Salah

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Two-year extension 

©IMAGO

Virgil van Dijk has signed a new contract with Liverpool that will keep the defender at the club until the summer of 2027. In a statement on the club website on Thursday, the Anfield club confirmed that the Dutch defender would not be departing the club at the end of the season when his previous deal expired and had instead agreed to stay at the Premier League club for the foreseeable future. The news comes just one week after Liverpool agreed a new deal to keep Mohamed Salah at the club with a new contract extension until 2027.

“I’m very happy, very proud,” Van Dijk said in an interview with the club. “There are so many emotions obviously that go through my head right now speaking about it. It’s a proud feeling, it’s a feeling of joy. It’s just incredible. The journey I’ve had so far in my career, to be able to extend it with another two years at this club is amazing and I’m so happy.” Van Dijk has made over 310 appearances for the English giants since he made the move to Anfield in 2018. Costing no less than €84.5 million from Southampton, the Breda-born talent was the club’s record signing until they signed Darwin Núñez from Benfica for €85m. At the time, Van Dijk was also the most expensive defender of all time, but that figure has since been overtaken by no than three players in Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus for €85.5m, Harry Maguire to Manchester United for €87m and Josko Gvardiol to Manchester City for €90m.

Despite turning 34 this summer, Van Dijk remains a crucial part of Arne Slot’s Liverpool side. With 3,987 minutes of football in all competitions for the Anfield club this season, Van Dijk sits top of Liverpool’s charts for minutes played, beating second-placed Salah with an extra 26 minutes of game time.

Such has been the defender’s impressive form despite his growing age that Van Dijk still boasts an impressive market value of €28m, which makes him the fourth most valuable defender in the world over the age of 30 and the most valuable player in the world born in 1991, beating Man City playmaker Kevin de Bruyne by a single €1m in market value. As such, Liverpool clearly had few reservations over extending Van Dijk’s contract and have every intention of relying on his remarkable talents over the course of the next few years.