"Getting back to his full powers" - Ian Wright on 30-year-old Liverpool player

Pundit Ian Wright believes that Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk is back to his best.

The Dutchman missed the majority of the 2020-21 campaign due to a serious knee injury. In fact, Van Dijk missed a total of 45 games last season.

But, the defender has not missed a beat since returning from his knee injury. Van Dijk has been averaging a WhoScored player rating of 7.27 across the 2021-22 club campaign (33 appearances).

Wright is convinced that we are now seeing the best of the 30-year-old again.

“You know what’s good about what Virgil is doing now, he’s obviously getting back to his full powers because he’s got it now," Wright told his self-named podcast, as quoted by HITC.

"He’s doing that look where he says ‘try to take me on’, Virgil has that look and you’ll see forwards go for it, stop, and then pass it the other way."

Anfield Watch Verdict

Van Dijk is certainly performing well this season, so we can see where Wright is coming from.

Reds boss Jurgen Klopp also believes that Van Dijk is back to is best.

“Definitely, definitely, you can see [he's back to his best] it in all movements and everything,” the German said last month, as quoted by This Is Anfield.

“We were always convinced that it would happen. He is completely back on track, he is absolutely at his best again.

“I would say it’s good timing because the decisive part of the season is coming up now. Long may it continue.”

Van Dijk is arguably the best centre-back in the world. The Dutchman was named the runner-up for the 2019 Ballon d'Or, which provides an insight into how good he is.

Therefore, we are not remotely surprised that the 30-year-old is having a good season post-injury.