Virgil van Dijk has followed Mohamed Salah in signing a new two-year contract to stay at Liverpool until 2027.
The captain had been in talks with the league leaders for months but always with the expectation he would extend his seven-year stay at Anfield.
Liverpool had risked losing a £75m signing on a free transfer but it was clear during talks that both Van Dijk and the club wanted him to remain.
Van Dijk recently said that progress had been made and, six days after Salah extended his own deal, he has put pent to paper.
Head coach Arne Slot was keen to keep his compatriot and sporting director Richard Hughes led talks with Van Dijk and his agent, Neil Fewings.
The centre-back’s new deal will expire a few days before his 36th birthday but Liverpool are confident he remains one of the world’s finest players and that, as with Salah, they have proved their ambition by keeping another key player.
Van Dijk has been at the heart of Liverpool’s title push this season, making up one half of a formidable centre-back partnership with Ibrahima Konate. He has been ever-present in the Premier League this season and has scored 27 goals in 314 games for Liverpool.
But despite stating his desire to stay at the club, it took until April for Van Dijk to provide a positive update on contract talks, revealing progress over an extension after Liverpool’s 3-2 loss at Fulham.
“There is progress, yes,” Van Dijk said following the trip to Craven Cottage. “These are internal discussions and we’ll see. I love the club, I love the fans and they were there for us again [at Fulham].”
A seismic boost for the Reds as they look to remain at the Premier League pinnacle beyond this term, the announcement comes after Salah’s own contract standoff was resolved, with the Egyptian snubbing Saudi interest to stay put on Merseyside.
However, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future remains in serious doubt, with the right-back closing in on a move to join Real Madrid for free when his own contract runs out at the end of June.
Van Dijk has written himself into Liverpool and Premier League legend since his Anfield arrival in January 2018 from Southampton, proving his £75m price tag as something of a bargain over the last seven years.
The centre-back played a crucial role in ending the Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a Premier League title in 2020, and also boasts a Champions League, FA Cup, Club World Cup and two Carabao Cups in his stacked trophy cabinet.
He replaced Jordan Henderson as captain in 2023 and led them to the Carabao Cup in his debut season with the armband. They could win the Premier League as soon as Sunday.
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