Huge Liverpool boost as Virgil van Dijk joins Mohamed Salah in signing new contract

Liverpool have avoided losing their captain on a free in the summer after Van Dijk put pen to paper

Virgil van Dijk has followed Mohamed Salah in signing a new two-year contract to stay at Liverpool until 2027.

The captain could have left Anfield on a free transfer in the summer but said it was “always Liverpool” for him and insisted he had no doubts that he saw his future at the club.

Liverpool were also keen to extend his seven-year stay on Merseyside and Van Dijk said it was an “amazing” feeling to commit to the club.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has signed a new deal at the club (PA)

“I’m very happy, very proud,” Van Dijk said. “There are so many emotions obviously that go through my head right now speaking about it. “It’s a proud feeling, it’s a feeling of joy. It’s just incredible. The journey I’ve had so far in my career, to be able to extend it with another two years at this club is amazing and I’m so happy.

“It was always Liverpool. That was the case. It was always in my head, it was always the plan and it was always Liverpool. There wasn’t any doubt in my head that this is the place to be for me and my family. I’m one of Liverpool. Someone called me the other day an adopted Scouser – I’m really proud to hear these things, it gives me a great feeling.”

Van Dijk cost Liverpool £75m, a world-record fee for a centre-back, when he joined from Southampton in 2018 and, while his contract entered the last few months, there was always the expectation that talks would end with him re-signing.

Van Dijk recently said that progress had been made and, six days after Salah extended his own deal, he has put pen 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.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has been at the heart of their title charge this season (PA)

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.

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.