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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk battles with Sander Berge of Fulham during the Premier League match at Craven Cottage on April 6 2025(Image: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Virgil van Dijk has spent much of the season fielding questions about his Liverpool future.

But with progress now being made over a new contract, the spotlight is being shone elsewhere on the centre-back.

And Arne Slot will no doubt be surprised to learn his team is being captained by a "serial offender" who has escaped multiple red cards in the last two seasons and should now be facing a ban.



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Well, that's if former Premier League referee Keith Hackett is to be believed having been invited by one publication to dissect a number of incidents involving Van Dijk.

READ MORE:There is one question worth asking about Liverpool Premier League title challengeREAD MORE:Arne Slot could drop three key players as Liverpool wait on injury news

Readers would be advised not to hold their breath waiting for every other leading defender to be given similar forensic treatment.

Hackett, now 80 and also ex-chief of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, believes Van Dijk should have conceded a penalty when colliding with Rodrigo Muniz, and then later dismissed when catching Sander Berge with a flailing arm.

In fairness, the penalty was a 50-50 call.

"He will then be seen as a bit of a conduit between the officials and the players in terms of behaviour.

“I just wonder whether the conversations between the referee and Van Dijk are fairly amicable and that the referees are falling into a trap.

“But there is no doubt as far as I’m concerned that this player has become a serial offender and match officials are failing to apply the appropriate sanctions.”

Now, it's worth bearing in mind managers and captains of every team go into the referee's dressing room before the game as a matter of routine.

Wouldn't that, by absolute definition, make the Gunners' even less worthy champions?

Events on Sunday rekindled weary 'LiVARpool' chat, which conveniently ignored four days previous when Everton defender James Tarkowski remained on the pitch despite a challenge on Alexis Mac Allister that was almost universally deemed a red-card offence.

And it was only last season Liverpool scored a perfectly good goal at Tottenham Hotspur that was given the green light by VAR yet somehow failed to register on the scoresheet.

Incidentally, Van Dijk has been booked five times for Liverpool this season, which stands comparison to Arsenal centre-back duo William Saliba (three yellows and one red) and Gabriel (six bookings).

The claim is frankly ridiculous.

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Not that Van Dijk will be overly bothered should he end the season by lifting the Premier League trophy at Anfield.
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