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Coutinho decision gives Liverpool advantage and Van Dijk can benefit

  /  autty

Hearing Virgil van Dijk wants to go down in Liverpool history as an Anfield legend is great to hear.

It goes without saying but he really is up there with some of the best centre-backs ever seen at the club and I would say he is just as good as the likes of Alan Hansen and Ron Yeats.

So hearing that he essentially wants to stay at Liverpool and cement his reputation further is good news at a time when there is little else to write home about from a football point of view.

If he is here for the next few years, it will take him up to around the 33 or 34 mark and if he continues to win trophies like he has been doing since the Reds won the Champions League in June last year then he will be right up there.

He is a fantastic defender, no question about it and I would have loved to have played against him just to see how good he actually is. And how good I was as well!

I was never intimidated by playing against the best centre-backs and my record, without being big headed, spoke for itself, but it was always a way to test yourself as a striker mixing it with the best defenders, so I would have loved to have done that with Van Dijk.

I played at World Cups and European Championships with Ireland and I was up against some really top centre-halves. I look at players like Franco Baresi, Paul McGrath and Alan Hansen and Virgil really has a bit about him that is the same as those greats.

Baresi was so arrogant on the pitch but he was great at reading the game and he could back that up. Paolo Maldini was phenomenal and McGrath had everything to play with and against, these are some of the defenders Van Dijk will be likened alongside now.

The one thing you hope is that Van Dijk stays away from injuries the older he gets. If he keeps himself it, he can play until he is 34 or 35, no problem. He has got great pace but he doesn't ever need to use it as he just reads the game so well.

Most of Van Dijk's speed is in his mind, so he saves his legs and that will have a huge bearing on him being able to play to this standard well into his mid-30s.

Sami Hyypa was proof of that at Liverpool in the modern era and when they finally get back to normality, along with the goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, they have got to be looking at sorting the contracts for these two.

The goalkeeper is incredible and you look at the spine of the time and it is important to have that as strong as possible and as settled as they can be. The difference Alisson and Van Dijk have made has been extraordinary, it really has.

Liverpool have had great centre-halves across their history and I've loved watching all of them. Jockey Hansen is considered one of the best but I think Van Dijk can even surpass him by the time he hangs up his boots, I really do.

When he finishes, he could be considered No.1 on that list at Liverpool.

The club have sorted players' contracts so effectively over the past couple of years. Virtually all of the first team have had one to tie them all down for the best years of their careers.

In this day and age, it is all about the players wanting to stay. Liverpool know more than most with the likes of Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres, if players seek pastures new, then they will leave the club.

Philippe Coutinho was a prime example of that. Hey, look, it was Barcelona - wow, what a club they are, but he might now find himself scratching his head wondering why he made that decision. That is where Liverpool are now.

They are a massive pull and that is something they have to use for players coming in and the ones who are already here.

But while players are happy and signing new contracts, it bodes well for Liverpool to carry this on season in and season out.