The blueprint for a Ballon d'Or nominated defender

Virgil van Dijk - A Case Study

At the time, Virgil Van Dijk’s £75,000,000 move from Southampton to Liverpool made him the most expensive defender in the world. This transfer left the question on a lot of people’s lips, is he worth it? With Liverpool as Premier League champions in waiting, a Champions League trophy under his belt and finishing runner up to Lionel Messi for the Ballon D’or, it is very obvious that the question has been answered. It is arguable that Van Dijk is the first name on the Liverpool team sheet, and it is undeniable, as demonstrated by his Premier League stats; 70% of his 183 tackles won, 764 recoveries, 1025 duels won vs. 373 lost and 724 aerial battles won vs. 251 lost, all in 148 Premier League appearances. Not to disregard his fantastic spells at Celtic and with the Netherlands.

Attributes

Standing at 193cm, Van Dijk fits the ‘mould’ of what a solid defender may be. But this isn’t what jumps out when you first think of Van Dijk. His physical growth occurred as he was transitioned from an attacking player to a right back, then centre back. He might have grown physically but his profile only grew when he moved to Celtic from Groningen. This opportunity to regularly play in European competitions saw the Dutchman impress with his ability in possession as he was pressed by higher quality opposition. This platform allowed him to display his skill set, which attracted Premier League sides, eventually resulting in his move to Southampton and then Liverpool.

As a central defender, the key function of Van Dijk as part of this Liverpool team is to prevent the opposition from creating high-value goal scoring chances. Luckily for Van Dijk, this plays into his strength as a dominant as a 1 v 1 defender. His strength and speed make it very difficult for opposition strikers to create separation, or expose the space beyond. Van Dijk uses his pace extremely well to defend space in space when operating as the last man, he controls his entire half of the pitch with his ability to move quickly and cover space all on his own.

With the style of play that Liverpool play we see most teams employ a medium, if not deep, block to try to deny Liverpool the space to play through them. As a result, this requires the central defenders to be able to use the ball effectively as they have space and time in possession when in the attacking phase. This sees Van Dijk show his ability as a very impressive distributor of the ball. He is right-footed and can distribute to all areas of the pitch with accuracy. He is also constantly looking for opportunities to pass vertically and help his team to progress.

As well as being able to execute a pass exactly, he also possesses the skill set to threaten the opposition when stepping out from a defensive line with the ball. This is the first building block for the attack as it forces the opposition to break their defensive structure and engage him. The then creates space behind that pressing player that Liverpool are capable of taking advantage of. As touched upon above, how comfortable Van Dijk is in possession of the ball allows him to disorganise the opposition and progress into dangerous areas of the pitch where he can really hurt the opponents. 

Lasting legacy to success

At 28, at the time of writing, Virgil Van Dijk is on the verge of claiming his first Premier League title and not being at the peak of his game. He has displayed a skill set that is unrivalled by any other defender in the current game, he has revolutionised the role of the centre back, tied with the same attributes that are tantamount with Rio Ferdinand, Martin Keown and Marcel Desailly.