Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk breaks silence on Jurgen Klopp’s departure
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has damaged his silence on Jurgen Klopp’s sudden exit.
Reds supervisor Klopp surprised the world of soccer on Friday by asserting his resolution to face down on the finish of the present season. It marks the top of a vastly profitable nine-year stint in cost at Anfield for the German, having reworked a struggling membership into Premier League and Champions League winners.
One of Klopp’s key gamers through the years has been defender Van Dijk, who he signed for £75million in 2017. And the legendary Liverpool centre-back has admitted the information was “tough to take”.
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Speaking on Klopp’s departure for the primary time, Van Dijk stated: “It’s a hard one to take, because the manager means so much for us, to me, to the club, to the whole Premier League I think. But he made the decision for him and his family. It was always going to be a tough one and it was definitely the case.”
Van Dijk went on to disclose that Klopp informed his gamers he could be leaving in non-public previous to the massive announcement. But the Netherlands skipper insisted the squad is laser-focused on their ambitions for the remainder of the season.
He stated: “I feel how we at all times attempt to handle noise from the surface. Of course that is large, it is large information in soccer. For us, it was additionally a really massive day. But we now have massive targets this yr and that is positively careworn by the supervisor as effectively.
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(Image: PA)
“For us and for me personally as well, I want to make sure the rest of the boys think like that too. I think that’s the case as well. We all want to achieve so much and that mindset was already there since pre-season and that doesn’t change.
“It will maybe even give you an extra boost to do that extra or maybe enjoy it a little bit even more together and make the last part of the season, the last bit of the manager’s time at the club, the best time he’s ever had.”
Klopp, who’s seeking to go away with a bang as his crew stay within the operating for a historic quadruple, was adamant he wouldn’t take up a training place at one other English membership. He even recommended he could by no means handle a soccer crew once more.
(Image: Liverpool FC by way of Getty Images)
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“I will leave the club at the end of the season,” he stated. “I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it.
“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.”
