Virgil van Dijk believes news of Jürgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool at the end of the season will only increase the squad’s already sky-high determination to deliver silverware.
It was announced on Friday that Klopp has decided to leave his post as manager of the Reds upon the completion of the current campaign.
Offering his reaction to Liverpoolfc.com, Van Dijk described his emotions when he and the team were informed at the AXA Training Centre.
And the No.4 went on to reiterate the boss’ insistence that all focus should remain on the pursuit for honours in 2023-24, continuing with Sunday’s Emirates FA Cup tie against Norwich City.
Virgil, obviously the manager has announced he is going to leave the club at the end of the season. What was your reaction to the news?
It’s a hard one to take, because the manager means so much for us, to me, to the club, to the whole Premier League I think. But he made the decision for him and his family. It was always going to be a tough one and it was definitely the case.
It was a private moment for the boss and for the players, but are there any details you can share on how he told the players and what the reaction was?
Yeah, he told us in private of course, and all of us were together. Like I said, it’s a hard one to take but our mindset is to focus on business. We have a lot of targets still to achieve this year and why not finish the season on a high and together with celebrations for the boss as well?
The manager was really keen in his interview to stress it’s business as usual. How do you ensure that happens? You see the media at the moment, it’s everywhere – how do you ensure there is no distraction?
I think how we always try to manage noise from the outside. Of course this is massive, it’s massive news in football. For us, it was also a very big day. But we have big targets this year and that’s definitely stressed by the manager as well. For us and for me personally as well, I want to make sure the rest of the boys think like that too. I think that’s the case as well. We all want to achieve so much and that mindset was already there since pre-season and that doesn’t change. It will maybe even give you an extra boost to do that extra or maybe enjoy it a little bit even more together and make the last part of the season, the last bit of the manager’s time at the club, the best time he’s ever had. That’s what we strive for and that’s why it’s business as usual.
Watch our chat with the captain in the free video below, or read on for the full transcript…
