Football is an emotional game, and Liverpool have a very emotional manager/leader in Jurgen Klopp. The same holds true for another team leader, Virgil van Dijk, who replaced Jordan Henderson as team captain this season. Van Dijk was already set to miss Liverpool’s home league contest against Aston Villa on Sunday, as a consequence of the red card he received this past Sunday.
Now it appears that the reaction Van Dijk had to his getting booked, has earned him a slightly longer suspension. The Reds skipper got red hot with his temper after being shown red, at that could mean an additional game on the sidelines.
If so, it means we won’t see the Dutchman in action again until Sept. 24 when Liverpool visits West Ham United. It’s a long time for Liverpool to be without one of their most valuable players. The Liverpool players salary rankings conveys just how much Van Dijk means to the Merseyside club. His £220,000 per week trails only Mohamed Salah for highest paid on the squad. When VVD moved over from Southampton a few years ago, it broke the all-time world transfer fee record for a defender. Hence the Dutch international and center back is second on the Liverpool wages list. He earns £11,440,000 annually. And it is not just what he brings to the squad in terms of elite form.
It’s also a matter of his leadership; hence he wears the captain’s arm band.
Let’s take a look at what the English Football Association statement reads:
“Virgil Van Dijk has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3.1 following Liverpool’s Premier League game against Newcastle United on Sunday, 27 August. It’s alleged that the defender acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official after being sent off in the 29th minute.
“Virgil Van Dijk has until Friday, 1 September to provide a response to this charge.”
So he stands accused of verbally abusing Referee John Brooks, but maybe the appeal process will work out for him and his club? This weekend, it looks almost certain that Liverpool will be without the services of their entire first choice central defense pairing, as Ibrahima Konate joins Van Dijk on the absentee list. He’s trying to fully recover from a muscular injury.
While they are in a tough spot now, they definitely should respond well to it. After all, they showed last week that once again this squad does have some “mentality giants” as Klopp likes to call them. Maybe they’ll be mentally huge again on Sunday.