Virgil van Dijk proved plenty of people absolutely wrong over the course of this season.
Rewind the clock 12 months and serious questions were starting to be asked about Liverpool’s newly appointed captain.
Having had a disappointing campaign by his high standards, Van Dijk was being criticised left, right and centre. At 32, there was a feeling that he could be on his way out.
One year on, and nobody is asking those questions anymore. Having led the Liverpool squad superbly all season, Van Dijk was arguably the reason the Reds sustained a title challenge for as long as they did.
As Micah Richards said, Van Dijk was the ‘outstanding’ player of Liverpool’s season. Why then, have Reds fans decided otherwise?
Virgil van Dijk misses out on Player of the Season
Van Dijk was not the only Liverpool player to perform at the top level during 2023/24.
Alexis Mac Allister is another who really stood up to be counted as the Reds hit one injury crises after another.
In his debut season at Anfield, Mac Allister deserves a lot of praise for making the step up from Brighton look easy. He was no Van Dijk, but the Argentine ran his captain relatively close.
According to Liverpool supporters though, neither Van Dijk nor Mac Allister were the club’s Player of the Season.
READ MORE: Every Liverpool player rated for their 2023/24 season as Virgil van Dijk comes out on top
Somewhat strangely, liverpoolfc.com revealed on Friday that Reds fans have nominated Mohamed Salah as their best player of the campaign.
Van Dijk had to settle for second place, while Mac Allister took home a bronze medal.
Don’t get us wrong, Salah had another good year. The Egyptian top-scored with 25 goals while also hitting 13 assists. But when it really mattered, Salah went missing.
Although Van Dijk will no doubt be pleased for his teammate of seven years, we feel he would be fine to be a little hurt at not winning out.
Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah set for final showdown?
Both Van Dijk and Salah find themselves in a similar situation heading into the summer break.
The players each have just 12 months to run on their contracts with Liverpool. Although neither look likely to leave, maybe we’re now heading into the last season of two Liverpool legends.
If that is the case, then we’d better make it a good one. Van Dijk and Salah were absolute pillars of the Jurgen Klopp era and their time at Anfield will go down in the club’s history.
Of course, there is still the chance that FSG will see fit to reward the two players for their contributions to the club and keep them around even longer.
Although we’d love to see that happen, it seems incredibly unlikely at this point.
As a result, 2024/25 feels set to be Van Dijk and Salah’s final dance at Liverpool. They’ll both be desperate to make it a good one, and Virgil may have just been given some added incentive to ensure it’s his best yet.