Pepijn Lijnders has spoken of his joy at hearing Virgil van Dijk’s voice during Liverpool’s pre-season training sessions in Austria. The Dutchman has been sidelined since suffering an ACL injury in the Merseyside derby last October following a challenge by Jordan Pickford. As a result of Van Dijk’s surgery, he was also forced to miss out on Euro 2020 this summer as he continues his rehabilitation. However, having been included in Liverpool’s travelling party for their pre-season training camp in Austria, he now looks set to return for the start of the 2021/22 season. And Lijnders has spoken of his delight at hearing at the Dutchman’s voice and him organising his team-mates during training sessions over the last few days.
PepijinLijnders said: “On that note, one of the highlights of the camp so far has been hearing Virg’s voice organising and leading that last line.”
Also included in Liverpool’s travelling party is new signing Ibrahima Konate, who Lijnders has offered an insight into how the defender is adapting to his new surroundings.
Pepijn Lijnders said: “Ibou is doing really well. He comes from a different style, but there are some similarities and he has adapted well to what we want. You see him, he is really calm on the ball, he knows how to attack and when to step in when with the ball, when to play the outside pass, when to play the inside pass, when to switch the game. He has a good understanding of the game, attacking-wise. Defensively, he is strong and it is something we wanted because we play high – our centre-halves and full-backs need to be able to catch players when they break because when you play so offensively, when players slip through we do, of course, have Ali but we firstly want to catch them with our legs – solve the problem with legs. One thing Ibou has his legs! When we train, each player is under maximum pressure. There is never a situation where you just have time and that’s what he is feeling now, that with a little bit more fatigue of training, adaptation to a new club and a new style and then having these sessions where he is constantly under pressure and has to make good decisions, then you see what kind of player you’ve bought. He has everything for the type of centre-half we want and now it is just about learning, adapting and listening to Millie, listening to Virg and so on. That’s what I like a lot, we have so many young players.”
