Virgil Van Dijk advocates this Ballon D’or victory for a defender

Virgil Van Dijk suggests that this it’s time for a defender to be a Ballon D’or winner, the Dutch defender is among the contenders to win it.

Virgil Van Dijk had a phenomenal season with Liverpool, as he won a Champions league title, and fell only one point below Manchester City in the Premier league race.

His exploits in England propelled him to win the Players’ player of the year award this season, and Premier league player of the season. Thus, the 28-year-old player is leading in the race to win the upcoming Balon D’or.

Across all competitions, Van Dijk made 50 appearances, kept 26 clean sheets, conceded 34 goals and didn’t lose a single one-on-one duel.

Hence, Van Dijk now believes that the player preventing goals shall receive equal credit to the players, who score. In a conversation published on Liverpool’s website. The Dutch International made his statement.

“To get the PFA Player of the Year is a fantastic honour,” Van Dijk told Liverpool’s official website. “It’s the highest honour you can get because it’s voted by your fellow peers.”

“I said it back then as well, I would trade it for the Champions League. Luckily, I didn’t have to. It’s an honour if people are talking about [the Ballon d’Or], but what can I do? I have no influence on anything.” he further said.

“I can’t deny I had a pretty good season last year, so the only thing I can do now is just focus on the new season, getting fit, stay fit and hopefully get an even better season than I had last year.”

“I can understand the fact that normally strikers or No. 10’s win these awards because it’s more attractive to see. But maybe the time has come to change it.” he concluded.

It’s been 13 years since any defender last won a Balon D’or award, probably this is the time, where domination of attackers are reduced, and other aspects being considered ahead.

Nevertheless, Van Dijk can expect stiff competition from Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, not to mention the perennial candidates in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

How twitter reacted

https://twitter.com/Mxrk_Teahan/status/1151099139452735488?s=20

Virgil Van Dijk says he would rather win more trophies at Liverpool than win Balon D'or.. He will wait another 20yrs 😂 #Thanos

— Aguiyi Anaedo (@AguiyiNnewi) July 20, 2019

Played myself 😂😂😂😂😂
Dude I am not insecure, Van Dijk will at least be getting top 3 on the balon d'or stage. He is the best not some Maguire 😂😂😂😂😂

And by your comparisons Bamba played less matches and still had better stats so he is better than Maguire or???? pic.twitter.com/UW7fn972s4

— Theo Sassler (@bondz1e) July 18, 2019

https://twitter.com/DJSLFC80/status/1152331044219236354?s=20

Wait and see how good he's going to be in his 2nd season. He'd be my Balon D'or for 2019 just ahead of van Dijk

— NAV (@naveedciao) July 19, 2019

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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