The Premier League might look increasingly like a one-horse race but the leaders’ season has been successful amid ongoing speculation about three senior players whose contracts run out in the summer.
Liverpool retained the services of Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk in the January transfer window but face losing important players for nothing in the summer.
Van Dijk’s former central defensive partner Jose Fonte has predicted that the Dutch international will land a big European move if he doesn’t renew his contract at Anfield.
Where will Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk be playing next season?
“Virgil van Dijk would thrive at Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him at one of those clubs this season,” Fonte told Premier League betting outfit Boyle Sports.
“Those clubs will be looking for defenders that are as reliable as Van Dijk and they will all be looking if he gets to the end of the season without signing a contract.”
Van Dijk, who is ranked at number three in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Premier League defenders of all time, will turn 34 before the start of the 2025/26 season. That will undoubtedly be a factor for Liverpool in any contract negotiations but Fonte is confident in his old partner’s ability.
“He can still perform at the highest level and he has shown he can take care of himself. He will have no problem continuing at the highest level for another three or four years,” continued the former Portugal international.
“Even if Van Dijk loses a bit of pace, he won’t be slow. He will get even better in his positioning and his anticipation. He is undoubtedly one of the best defenders in the history of football.”
Fonte and Van Dijk played together more than 50 times for Southampton between 2015 and 2017, when Fonte was sold to West Ham United in the January transfer window. Van Dijk moved on a year later and has been an unmitigated success with the Reds.
The 33-year-old has won everything there is to win at Liverpool, following Champions League and Club World Cup wins in 2019 and a Premier League title in 2020 with a domestic cup double in 2022.
If he does leave Liverpool in the summer, it will most likely be as a two-time Premier League winner. The Reds are six points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand and have lost only once this season.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, there will be more to come irrespective of which shirt Van Dijk is wearing next season.
While four years at the top might be an ambitious claim on Fonte’s part, Van Dijk’s suitors in the summer will belong to the very top level of the game and he’ll have at least a year or two in the hunt for trophies.
