Van Dijk on Liverpool’s Lack of Depth: “I Trust the Club to Do the Right Thing”

Liverpool’s signings this summer have caught plenty of attention for the right reasons. Signing superstar Florian Wirtz and rapid right back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen. Bringing in left back Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth. All are exceptional signings.

Yet at the same time, there have been departures. A lot of them. Currently, despite some very high quality arrivals, Liverpool look very thin at striker and centre half. There is, naturally, worry. Captain Virgil van Dijk, though, trusts the club to make the necessary signings.

“I don’t know, we will find out,” Van Dijk said when asked about the lack of senior options at striker and centre half with the Premier League season set to kick off on Friday. “What I think is that Hugo made an impression on and off the ball since he came in.

“Everything that happened with Diogo, it was tragic. Lucho and Darwin leaving. Those are three senior attackers. I fully trust the club to do the right thing now, what they think is good for the club. But if you look at the players that have come in, I think they played well today.”

Assuming Federico Chiesa still departs as expected—or somehow stays but remains an unwanted spare part in manager Arne Slot’s collection—that will leave just Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, and new striker signing Hugo Ekitike as established attacking options.

Meanwhile at the back, Jarell Quansah has been sold leaving Ibrahima Konaté and Joe Gomez—both of whom have significant injury histories, with Gomez currently out with one—along with Van Dijk at centre half. For a side looking to play 60+ games, that’s not enough.

Liverpool have an exceptional squad. One of the best in Europe. And they’ve made arguably the best signings of the summer transfer window of any of the big clubs in Europe. None of that will matter, though, if they lack the depth to compete into March, April, and May.

“Jeremie and Hugo with the goals, Milos was good, you need time with everything,” Van Dijk added. “If you play together you know the strengths and what the player likes in terms of positioning. That is obvious. I don’t think in this case there is such a thing as too much change.

“I think we are in good shape. I know the defensive part of our team, we have conceded every game we played apart from Stoke when no fans were there. That is something we need to improve as a collective. Other than that it was good to feel the intensity again.”

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com