Virgil van Dijk appointed as new Liverpool captain

Liverpool has announced Virgil van Dijk as their new captain, with Trent Alexander-Arnold taking up the role of vice-captain.

This decision follows the departure of former captain Jordan Henderson from the team.

Van Dijk, who also captains his national team, the Netherlands, expressed his pride at being given this responsibility.

Speaking in Singapore, the centre-back stated, “It’s a really proud day for me, for my wife, for my kids, my family. But also to be the captain of Liverpool Football Club is something that I can’t describe at this point.”

Since his transfer from Southampton to Anfield in January 2018, Van Dijk has made 222 appearances for Liverpool, collecting seven winners’ medals in the process.

These include the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the FA Community Shield.

Regarding the upcoming 2023-24 season, Van Dijk acknowledged the disappointment of the previous campaign, stating, “It was actually not a bad run-in. Obviously in the end we didn’t achieve anything we hoped to achieve and that was very disappointing.”

Expressing determination to improve, Van Dijk added, “I think that was a big thing that was missing: the consistent level that we showed over the last couple of years was missing. And obviously everyone wants to make this right. We all feel we have to do this together again each and every day, each and every game, with the fans as well.

“Obviously it has been quite an interesting summer with players obviously leaving and new players coming in, this little transition that is going on. We also have to be a bit patient but we want to be there and we want to show what we’re capable of.

“But we can be up there again. It’s all about doing it together with the consistency and hopefully we can show it.”

The newly appointed vice-captain, Alexander-Arnold, steps into the role previously held by James Milner.