Liverpool’s revamped midfield has been one of the main reasons behind the Reds’ rebirth this season.
Having endured such a difficult campaign last time out, Liverpool have bounced back to launch a Premier League title challenge in 2023/24.
Although their midfield of yesteryear played a big part in them winning title after title under Jurgen Klopp, it clearly needed upgrading.
Thankfully, Liverpool were able to do that with some uber-smart recruitment in the transfer window. In came Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch and the Reds haven’t looked back.
Added to the spine they had at the club already, Liverpool’s midfield is now one of the best in the Premier League. According to TalkSPORT pundit Dean Saunders though, Klopp could count on one of his defenders to play in midfield if he really needed to as well.
What has Dean Saunders said about Liverpool
Of course, Liverpool actually do have a defender, two in fact, who have played in midfield for them this season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has famously been reinvented as a central midfielder either while inverting from right-back, or playing games outright in the middle of the pitch.
Another who has stepped further forward this season is Joe Gomez. Like Alexander-Arnold, Gomez has been inverting from right or left-back but also started last month’s win over Nottingham Forest in defensive midfield.
However, the man that former Liverpool striker Saunders has put forward is neither Trent nor Joe. Instead, the pundit thinks Virgil van Dijk has characteristics that could mark him out as a midfielder.
“Van Dijk for me, what a player. It’s hard to find a better centre-back than him in the world,” Saunders raved. “The back four sometimes was Bradley, Quansah and Tsimikas at left-back and Kelleher in goals and he’s holding those five together and he’s done it.
“Last year he wasn’t as good, maybe his injury was still hanging over him a little bit. But a player who can play on the halfway line, can play football like a midfield player and sprint like a quick full-back, hard to beat.”
Will Virgil van Dijk play midfield for Liverpool
Although we’ve seen Gomez do it this season, we really don’t see how Van Dijk would ever be moved into midfield for Liverpool.
He could certainly do it. The 32-year-old’s passing range is one of the best in the Reds squad. However, we simply need him too much at the back.
We’d also argue that in our opinion, Virgil is perhaps not quite mobile enough to do the job of a midfielder. He’s quick, no doubt, but it’s a long way around him.
Having seen various players pushed into all sorts of positions and done well this season, we can’t say we wouldn’t be intrigued by this idea. But a lot would have to have gone wrong for Virg to be doing his best Stevie G impression.