Virgil van Dijk Picks Liverpool Striker as League’s Best

Even when it’s not about Virgil van Dijk and a transfer to Liverpool—or not getting a transfer to Liverpool or maybe there still being a chance of him getting a transfer to Liverpool—it seems it’s hard to separate news of the Southampton defender from news of Liverpool.

Such is the case today when the 26-year-old identified Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge as one of the two best strikers he’s come up against in England despite the fact that, having arrived in England in 2015, he’s never had a chance to face a fully fit and in form Sturridge.

‘I think Sturridge when he is fit,” he told Rio Ferdinand during a discussion with the former Manchester United defender this week about his FIFA stats during a promotional event for the game. “He’s a great striker. I also think [Sergio] Aguero is an amazing striker.”

A lot of people would agree with him on that, given that in that brief period between when Luis Suarez left Liverpool and Daniel Sturridge entered into a perpetual, purgatorial cycle of injuries, Sturridge and Aguero did look the two best strikers in England by some margin.

Of course, since then things haven’t gone to plan, particularly for Sturridge but also perhaps for the only slightly less injury prone Aguero, though there has been some buzz around Liverpool this week that Sturridge will be now given another chance to prove his injuries are behind him.

With Liverpool creating countless chances in recent weeks but failing to convert, a more clinical touch in front of goal is on the agenda, and that could mean a few starts up top for Sturridge in the coming weeks—a chance to earn the staring job and prove he can stay fit.

If he gets that, and perhaps more importantly if he can stay fit, Van Dijk’s words might go down as prescient. At which point we can all go back to wondering when or if or how he might end up getting that Liverpool transfer.