Virgil van Dijk is “one of the few leaders there are still in the world of football,” Liverpool has said head coach Arne Slot Sky Sports.
Van Dijk, who joins the Reds from Southampton for a world record costs for a £ 75 million defender in January 2018, placed pen-to-paper for a new two-year deal earlier this week, so that he held in Liverpool until the summer of 2027.
Liverpool's influential skipper will lead his way to Leicester on Sunday, live and exclusively on Sky Sports, while the Reds after their second Premier League title since Van Dijk's arrival in the club.
Slot admits that the new Van Dijk deal is the perfect tonic prior to the trip of this weekend to the King Power Stadium.
“Huge news for the club, for the fans, for our players and for our employees, [we’re all] So happy, “said Slot Sky Sports Pundit and former Liverpool -defender Jamie Carragher.
“Everyone knows how good a player he is when they see him play at the weekend, and we also know how important he is. I also know how important he is during the week when we train.
“He is one of the few leaders there are still in the world of football for a team, and apart from that he has shown again this season how important he is on the field.
“If we train, when you are in this building, you see when you look at him, a big man, so you would expect him to be a leader.
“But he is not only a leader because he is big and long. He is also smart, players respect him a lot, and he brings a lot of energy into training sessions.
Slot: Van Dijk so good on the ball
Slot added: “He knows what he says, he knows how to motivate his teammates to get the best out of us every day.
“And apart from that, when it comes to quality, I was surprised how incredibly good he is with the release of the ball from the back. The first training session we did, we tried to get players free between the lines, and he found them constant.
“I knew how good he was from a player (before I arrived at Anfield), how important he was, but that he was so good on the ball was even a surprise for me.”
View Leicester City vs Liverpool Live on Sky Sports Premier League this Sunday; kick -off 4.30 pm. Stream with now.