'Crazy': Virgil van Dijk says player who left Liverpool for free was so hard to play against in training

Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk has heaped praise on one of his old Reds teammates.

The Dutch international has been at Anfield for over six years now. He has been magnificent for them and was even named the captain after Jordan Henderson‘s departure.

Van Dijk has done remarkably well this season. He has looked really good, just like how he was back in the 2019/20 season when Liverpool won the Premier League.

The Reds had a few incredible players in their squad back then, and Van Dijk has claimed that one of them was really hard to play against in training.

Virgil van Dijk praises former Liverpool star

Jurgen Klopp has been receiving a lot of praise for the way he has rebuilt his squad this season.

He completely deserves the credit because he has done a fantastic job. Liverpool are fighting to win the treble this season and winning that would eclipse what their predecessors did in 2019 and 2020.

The Reds had a tremendous group of players back then, didn’t they? They were a force to be reckoned with and many would argue that the old team was much more scarier to face than the current one.

The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah have been part of both sides, but some players who helped the Reds win the Premier League and the Champions League a few years ago have moved on.

One such player is Roberto Firmino, who is still adored by everyone in and around Anfield.

The Brazilian never scored as many goals as Salah or Sadio Mane, but everybody will agree that he played a massive part in the two wingers’ success.

Van Dijk is a big fan of Fimrino, and he raved about the Brazilian when asked to name the best players he has ever played with in his career.

“Bobby Firmino has been a big figure in the success we’ve had over the last years,” Van Dijk said on the Rest is Football podcast.

“He kept especially those two next to him (Salah and Mane), who are outstanding and maybe one of the best wingers in Premier League history, keep them together. The triangle they were, the way they worked together…

“Obviously, for me personally, the defensive work they did in order to make it easier for us at the back has been crazy, has been outstanding. He’s been so good.

“Also difficult to defend in training but also makes us learn how to deal with dropping nines or wingers that make them runs in behind and things like that. So, I would give a lot of credit to him.”

Roberto Firmino’s stats in Saudi Arabia are terrible

Liverpool fans bid an emotional goodbye to Roberto Firmino at the end of last season.

The Brazilian is an absolute legend of the club, but once his contract expired last year, a decision was made by the two parties to go their separate ways. Jose Enrique called that a ‘massive mistake‘ at the time.

Firmino joined Saudi Arabian side Al_Ahli on a free transfer, and on his debut, he scored a hat-trick. Everyone expected him to set the stage on fire, but things have not worked out.

The 32-year-old failed to score a single goal after his debut in August until February this year. He has managed just three more since, which is not a great return at all.

Reports in January claimed that Firmino was looking for a way out of Saudi Arabia, and Chelsea were even linked with a move to sign him.

Nothing materialised then, but it will be interesting to see if that changes this summer.

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