Virgil van Dijk Challenges Liverpool Ahead of New Premier League Season
Virgil van Dijk has drawn a hard line under last season and thrown down a challenge to the entire Liverpool squad on the eve of the new Premier League campaign – there can be no repeat of what he calls an “unacceptable” year.
Liverpool open the 2025/26 season on Sunday away at Newcastle United, with Van Dijk preparing for his 10th term at the club and his first under new head coach Andoni Iraola. The mood is very different to 12 months ago, when the Reds kicked off as champions of England and promptly unravelled.
Arne Slot’s side lost 12 league games and 20 in all competitions, staggering over the line in fifth place on the final day to salvage Champions League qualification. The numbers told their own story. So did the decision that followed. Slot was dismissed less than a week after the season ended, his underachieving team costing him his job.
Liverpool moved quickly. Iraola, a free agent after leaving Bournemouth, signed a two-year deal in early June. Pre-season has already offered hints of what is to come: a more daring, front-foot approach that has caught the eye of the captain.
“For me personally, being a Liverpool player, last year was unacceptable,” Van Dijk said. “But that is last year. This year we have an opportunity to turn that around, together with our fans.”
The message is blunt. Raise the level or step aside.
“We all know how tough that will be but if you don't up for the challenge, then you're not at the right place,” he continued. “What I feel at the moment is everyone is up for the challenge. Let's see how we go about it.
“But I'm really looking forward to this season and I don't think we have a point to prove to anyone. We have to show how much we care, how much we want to fight for this badge and also realise how privileged we are to be playing for Liverpool.”
Iraola’s imprint and a new-look defence
If last season was about regression, this one is being sold as reinvention. Van Dijk has already seen enough of Iraola’s work to believe the players will enjoy it.
“If you look at Bournemouth last year (under Iraola), I think they were pretty exciting,” he said. That template of aggressive pressing and quick transitions is now being transplanted to Anfield, with a squad expected to challenge on four fronts.
The shift in style will be accompanied by change in personnel alongside the captain. Van Dijk is set to begin the campaign with a new centre-back partner, as Iraola decides whether to throw £60m signing Jeremy Jacquet straight into Premier League action or lean on the experience of Ronald Araujo, who arrived on loan from Barcelona earlier this month.
Whichever way the coach goes, Van Dijk knows the demands will be relentless.
“I would say if we keep working, keep believing, keep showing our quality, staying fit, and hopefully win a lot of games then we can be very excited,” he said. “That's the aim, that’s what we fight for, but we all know how tough it is.
“We all know how tough it is to be playing Premier League football, to be playing on all four fronts, but you have to embrace it. You have to enjoy the ride.
“We are all so blessed here and we have to keep going and enjoy it and that's what I will do, and I encourage everyone to do that as well. That's what I keep saying to the boys as well so let's see.”
Eyes on the window, eyes on the prize
For all the optimism around Iraola’s ideas, Van Dijk is under no illusion: quality in depth will decide whether Liverpool can truly compete on every stage.
“We need a squad that is able to compete on all four fronts and that’s the only way to try to be successful,” the Netherlands captain said. “Let’s see what the last couple of weeks of the transfer window will bring and then let’s go for it.”
The scars of last season remain, but so does the platform of Champions League football, a new manager with a bold blueprint, and a captain unwilling to tolerate another year of underperformance. Newcastle away will show how quickly Liverpool have listened.
