Liverpool enter race to sign £50m Van Dijk heir

When Liverpool renewed Virgil van Dijk’s contract, they did extra than simply tie their star defender all the way down to a brand new two-year deal.

Van Dijk is greater than a world-class centre-back; he is extra, even, than a peerless skipper. The Netherlands icon has transcended his put up as one in all Liverpool’s star gamers, immortalising his title in Liverpool lore, proper up there alongside Alan Hansen.

Sure, sure, he turns 34 subsequent month. And, nicely, sure, Liverpool will have to be extra cautious in managing their captain’s minutes as he reaches the autumn days of his illustrious Premier League profession.

However Van Dijk leads by instance, and that is on and off the sector. He is greater than a defender; he is a frontrunner and rousing drive. Tune in to Liverpool on the tv, and you may hear the 6 foot 4 star baying at his teammates earlier than heading out of the tunnel, switching them into gear.

Let’s take pleasure in him whereas we will, as a result of FSG’s switch chief, Richard Hughes, is already laborious at work making an attempt to safe a long-term inheritor.

Liverpool’s efforts to signal the following Van Dijk

Dean Huijsen was written within the stars to succeed Van Dijk at Anfield. After a surprising breakout marketing campaign at Bournemouth final 12 months, the 20-year-old grew to become one of the crucial sought-after younger gamers in Europe, hailed for his unbelievable potential.

Van Dijk left Southampton to signal for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, and Huijsen might have adopted an identical path, every proving a minimize above. Furthermore, Huijsen, whereas a Spanish worldwide, was born and reared in Amsterdam to Dutch mother and father earlier than relocating to Spain when he was 5.

It felt like the proper transfer for the participant, shifting to Liverpool, emulating one of many biggest defenders of his era – and technically a countryman at that.

Properly, Actual Madrid clearly turned a blind eye to such a poetic story, for they brushed Premier League competitors apart to activate the prodigy’s £50m launch clause and produce him dwelling.

Arne Slot nonetheless wants a brand new central defender, and whereas Huijsen is a one-of-a-kind expertise, there would possibly simply be another possibility ready throughout the continent, having been of a vested curiosity to Liverpool previously.

Liverpool enter race for brand spanking new centre-back

Huijsen’s off the playing cards, yada yada, however he is not the one proficient centre-back trying to take the following step in his profession.

In response to Portuguese outlet O Jogo, Liverpool are thinking about Sporting Lisbon’s Goncalo Inacio, 23, as soon as once more, having been routinely linked with the dynamic defender throughout the previous couple of years.

The left-footed defender has a €60m (£50m) launch clause in his contract, however suitors are optimistic that they will engineer a extra agreeable determine.

Nonetheless, with Manchester United and Newcastle United regarded as too, FSG might want to up the ante in the event that they want to discover a becoming long-term Van Dijk inheritor.

What Goncalo Inacio would convey to Liverpool

Inacio has but to compete away from his Portuguese homeland, however he hasn’t precisely performed that badly in Portugal, showing 213 occasions for Sporting after graduating from their academy.

Journalist Antonio Mango has drawn consideration to Inacio’s “insane” vary of passing, and that is corroborated by the information, for Inacio has accomplished a mean of 89% of his passes throughout his senior profession, as recorded by WhoScored.

Furthermore, Inacio’s aerial potential suggests he might provide an identical stage of potential in that regard as Huijsen, whose rangy body and composure, resulting in skilled timing, is one thing that may have seen him exceed expectations when moving into Van Dijk’s boots at Liverpool.

His modern-tailored fashion is strictly what Liverpool are in search of, and he is a left-sided centre-back in addition to. So as to add additional substance to the argument, it is a participant who has been tracked by Liverpool for numerous years, and he is solely received higher and higher.

Having been an influential member of a two-time Liga Portugal-winning backline lately, Inacio has fostered the proper mentality for a spot in Liverpool’s first group, and he is additionally blessed with a technical stage that almost all different central defenders throughout Europe can solely dream of.

Most, however not all. Huijsen can actually throw down with the Portuguese ace on that entrance, and when racking up the respective gamers’ abilities towards one another, you may see that each provide related qualities.

Huijsen is a robust defender, however his vary of passing and creativity, his potential to play by the strains, are the aspects which outline him as a future celebrity.

Inacio maybe outperforms him in that regard, and if positioned in Slot’s high-flying Liverpool system, you may solely think about the progress he might make, following the likes of Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch in making outstanding progress underneath the Dutchman’s wing.

Additional to the purpose, Inacio made just one defensive error throughout his 28 top-flight appearances final time period, whereas Huijsen made 4 taking part in for Bournemouth within the Premier League, albeit taking part in at what is taken into account the next stage, in additional intense and rigorous circumstances.

He is not good, however the Portugal worldwide has the making of an elite-level defender, and he might show the dream Huijsen different if signed this summer season, studying from Van Dijk over the following couple of years earlier than breaking away from the Reds legend’s shadow and turning into a sensation in his personal proper down the road.