Van Dijk will be 33 before the start of the 2024/25 campaign, and the length of his next deal may reveal Liverpool’s level of confidence in his longevity. Predictably, he himself is bullish — according to The Athletic, he ‘looks at Thiago Silva’ and ‘sees no reason’ why he too can’t perform at a high level into his late 30s.
Remarkably, Silva has played every minute for Chelsea in the Premier League this season, even at the age of 39. For context, only three other players in the top-flight over the age of 35 — Fulham’s Tim Ream (36, 963 minutes) and Willian (35, 776 minutes) and Everton’s Ashley Young (38, 917 minutes) — have played more than 500 minutes so far. It’s impressive in itself that Silva is still able to feature week-in, week-out, but it’s worth stressing that he’s there based on merit rather than reputation. Last season, he was voted Chelsea’s player of the year by both his teammates and the club’s supporters as one of the few who delivered in a desperately poor campaign.
Silva, then, is the inevitable benchmark, but Van Dijk must be wary that he’s very much an exception to the norm, even among some of the all-time greats. Manchester United icon Nemanja Vidić retired at 34 because of injuries, two years after leaving the club for Inter Milan. Vincent Kompany, meanwhile, only averaged 13.25 Premier League starts across his final four seasons with Manchester City as he too struggled to maintain fitness. While he did, of course, play a crucial role in City’s success over Liverpool in the 2018/19 title race, that would be his last hurrah at the club before a return to Belgian club Anderlecht, where he spent a solitary season as a player-coach before committing to management full time. Like Vidić, he hung up his boots at 34.
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is fast approaching the final 18 months of his contract. Given that he was awarded the captaincy in the summer and he’s been in resurgent form this season, it’s a safe bet that his deal will be extended. The more interesting question is how long that extension will be.
