There was one break last night where he had two players coming at him, virtually no help nearby and with one cool swoop he took the ball and set up a counter attack. Brilliant.
That was absolutely immense.
Has all the timing, positioning and passing of a late career Maldini.
But with vastly more pace, and he's miles, miles better in the air and in terms of sheer physicality than Maldini was at any time. Same goes with respect to Baresi - Van Dijk's a match for his extraordinary positioning, like Baresi he also organises the best offside trap in world football (only does so at a time when that's more difficult to do) but, again, in every physical attribute bar pace he utterly destroys even a peak Baresi.
Van Dijk is the best there's ever been - I'll say it before and I'll say it again, he matches (or very close to) the best of the best at their best attributes, then destroys them elsewhere. Take another example like, say, Hyppia - there's never been better in the air. Van Dijk matches him in the air and in terms of positioning but is massively better on the ball and in terms of pace it isn't even a contest.
If you made a defender in a lab you would end up with VVD.
Height. Speed. Poise. Aerial ability. Passing ability. Anticipation. Will to win. Influence.
He has no weaknesses.
This is true, but it doesn't really do him justice. Koulibaly has no weaknesses. Gomez arguably has no weaknesses. Van Dijk doesn't have any aspect of his game that doesn't measure up to the best CBs in history at that aspect of the game. He's as quick as the quickest, as good on the ball as the most skillful, as aerially dominant as the grockiest. It'll be a long, long time before we see his like again, he's the Messi of defenders and it's a travesty that he didn't win player of the year ahead of Messi.
