Liverpool have the PERFECT replacement lined up for Virgil van Dijk

In the last part of Anfield Watch's series taking a look at potential replacements for the Reds' big three stars, we take a look at Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutchman has been one of the best defenders in the world during the past six or seven years.

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On top of that, he is also the captain of Liverpool meaning finding a replacement for him is not going to be easy.

Even though Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold were tricky to find potential solutions for, Van Dijk may be the hardest.

Left-footed centre-backs are a rare commodity in the game. Left-footed centre-backs who are as dominant as the Liverpool captain are even rarer.

The potential Liverpool shortlist to replace Virgil van Dijk

For this part of the series, because of Van Dijk's leadership qualities and ability on the pitch we are exclusively only going to be looking at players from Europe's top five leagues.

This means we have narrowed down the shortlist to five players. They are as follows: Nico Schlotterbeck, Jarrad Branthwaite, Levi Colwill, Murillo and Castello Lukeba.

Immediately, while Colwill's numbers are really strong at this stage it seems like Chelsea will be unlikely to let him go to Liverpool. There was strong interest in him during the summer of 2023, but that ship has sailed now.

There's a lot to like about Nottingham Forest's Murillo and RB Leipzig's Castello Lukeba. However, both of them only win just over 50% of their aerial duels. While, they tick the boxes for a number of other key metrics such as their ability on the ball and reading of the game - Van Dijk's dominance in aerial duels means that if Liverpool want a like-for-like replacement, or as close to it, they need someone who is also strong in the air.

Branthwaite and Schlotterbeck the best Van Dijk replacements

This means that Liverpool's best solutions are probably Branthwaite and Schlotterbeck. Both of them have strong defensive numbers and are very comfortable at progressing the ball from deep as well.

On top of that they both comfortably average over 60% aerial duels which is much better than Reds' other options.

There are pros and cons to both.

Branthwaite seems like a difficult buy because Everton will be very reluctant to let him move to Anfield. The Reds would probably have to pay an extortionate fee to sign him.

But on the other hand he is homegrown and still very young. Perhaps paying over the odds is worth the gamble.

Schlotterbeck meanwhile has slightly more experience. But he doesn't have experience in the Premier League. That would probably mean he would need more time to settle.

However, he'd probably cost a lot cheaper as well with the German international set to enter the last two years of his current deal at Borussia Dortmund.

And as much as we love Branthwaite and would love to get him from Everton, for that reason we probably think Schlotterbeck is likely the more likely solution for Liverpool.

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