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Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool are targeting a ‘big summer’ of plans.

Van Dijk completed a late comeback win for Arne Slot’s side over West Ham on Sunday as they sit just two wins away from clinching the Premier League title.

The Netherlands international is also on the verge of signing a new two-year deal, following in the footsteps of teammate Mohamed Salah’s renewal last week.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future remains unresolved with the homegrown right-back the subject of ongoing interest from Real Madrid ahead of his contract expiring.

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But Van Dijk expects further developments at Anfield during the close season even with the Reds on the verge of a second championship in the space of five years.

He said: “I think Liverpool should be able to challenge for titles in the upcoming years.

“Whatever happens in terms of players going out, players coming in, I think it should be a big summer.

“I think they’re planning to make it a big summer, so we all have to trust the board as a Liverpool connected fan to do the right job.”

Despite holding a 13-point lead over Arsenal in the title race, Slot is eyeing improvement due to the majority of games this season being close-run affairs.

Van Dijk feels that a proper pre-season campaign, which was denied to several players by Euro 2024, will, be key to Liverpool refining their consistency levels.

“I think we 100% can improve,” added the captain.

“I think we shouldn’t forget the quality that the Premier League possesses, especially this season in my opinion.

It’s incredible how everyone can beat everyone.

“But if you take it all the way back to the [previous] summer, I didn’t have a proper pre season.

I think I came in on the Monday before we played Sevilla.

“I played 90 minutes straight away, then the following week it was Ipswich and you’re just back into it.

You don’t have time to work on what the manager really wants in terms of a training camp.

“This year, there is a training camp and there is time for the team to work on what the manager wants and I think that will then improve the team.

“There are still so many things to improve, but we shouldn’t forget the quality that the Premier League possesses because we see it.

“Even if you look at other results over the last couple of weeks, Brentford, of course, got a draw at Arsenal.

We obviously lost against Fulham last week, so we can’t forget that either.

“But I think a proper pre-season would definitely help the club in order to be even more consistent than we already have been.”


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