CULTURE NEVER CHANGES... BEING THE BIGGEST CLUB IS OUR AIM

Van Dijk schooled in Anfield values by Klopp and Hendo

- BY PAUL GORST

FOR Virgil van Dijk, the responsibility of being Liverpool captain stretches far beyond the confines of the pitch.

The Reds skipper is sitting in his executive box inside Anfield's Main Stand and is in full flow about what it means to represent the club as the leader of the playing squad.

Having made more than 320 appearances in a career on Merseyside that now sees him in his ninth season, Van Dijk has done it all during his time, including being the first captain since the legendary Alan Hansen, 35 years ago, to lift the league title in front of a crowd.

Now comfortably inside the two-year contract extension he penned in April though, the 34-year-old talisman believes it is the structure and the stability that has been put in place across the entire operation that has enabled Liverpool to thrive.

It’s an ethos he is simply trying to uphold in his privileged position, he insists.