Jürgen Klopp on Virgil van Dijk deal: 'It's absolutely great news'
Jürgen Klopp acclaimed Virgil van Dijk’s new Liverpool contract as ‘absolutely great news’ after the centre-back committed his long-term future to the club on Friday.
The No.4 put pen to paper on the deal on the eve of the 2021-22 season as he prepares to make his long-awaited comeback from knee surgery.
Asked for his reaction to the news during his pre-Norwich City press conference, Klopp replied: “It’s great news.
“The good thing about this signing is that we know him already, we’ve used him before already quite successfully and we are really happy that he is happy here. Even more so after that obviously very difficult last year that he is back on track, trains with the team and prepares for hopefully a very successful future at this club.
“Absolutely great, great news. Imagine if we would have had to buy this boy now – thank God we only had to give him a new contract!”
Van Dijk returned to the pitch during Liverpool’s pre-season training camp in Austria, coming on for the final 20 minutes of the friendly with Hertha BSC in Innsbruck on July 29.
He’s made a further two appearances in warm-up matches against Bologna and Athletic Club and described himself as ‘ready’ should Klopp decide to call upon him at Carrow Road for the Premier League opener tomorrow.
The manager continued: “He’s Virgil. Virgil was out for a long time, is now training with the team for three-and-a-half weeks, which is absolutely great.
“He played minutes in different games, played longer, in the last game I am pretty sure he could have played 90 minutes, we just didn’t try to do it. He is in good shape and is an important player for us so we’re really happy with the situation.”