After five years of criticism aimed towards the Liverpool ace, one of his biggest admirers has had enough.
Ok, the criticism may have been warranted based on his most recent performance at this summer’s European Championships. But, as far as one Dutch icon is concerned, Marco van Basten’s half-a-decade long lambasting of Virgil van Dijk is turning into something of a witchhunt.
Van Basten, arguably the Oranje’s biggest legend after Johan Cruyff, accused the Liverpool stopper of lacking the personality to lead a youthful Netherlands side back in 2023.
And, after Ronald Koeman’s side were blown away by an Austrian hurricane on Tuesday, the three-time Ballon D’Or winner once again aimed his criticism in a familiar direction.
“He’s got to lead and he’s the one we’re going to hold accountable in the end,” Van Basten told Voetbal Primeur of Van Dijk. “He has to organize things and he is responsible.
“He’s the great leader of the team, and then you have to organise these kinds of things better. Unfortunately, the criticism has not led to improvement, because it is actually the same points that are not going well for him.”
Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk defended after Dutch defeat
Now, Van Hooijdonk would struggle to really compliment Van Dijk based on a performance which saw the Dutch defence ripped to shreds by Ralf Rangnick’s ferocious frontline. A 3-2 defeat meant the Netherlands were fortunate to sneak through as one of the best third-place teams in the end.
But the former Celtic and Nottingham Forest striker believes that Van Dijk should not become a lightning rod for criticism just because he is one of the more senior members of Koeman’s side, feeling that the make-up of the squad meant this was always going to be a somewhat transitional campaign.
Netherlands face Romania in round of 16
“This Dutch team has no real leaders like the 1988 team had, for example,” Van Hooijdonk argues. “It does not mean that an armband makes you a leader like Ronald Koeman and Ruud Gullit were in 1988.
“We have a goalkeeper of 21. Nathan Ake has a lot of experience, but is very introverted. Stefan de Vrij and Van Dijk are also not the ones with the biggest mouths.
“Lutsharel Geertruida, Jerdy Schouten and Joey Veerman have only a few international matches under their belts. Xavi Simons is still searching and too young to be the leader.
“Cody Gakpo could be a leader based on his status and qualities, but he is a very quiet boy. Donyel Malen just joined the team. Memphis Depay is the boldest and that is ‘the leader’.”
The Netherlands will now face Romania in the round of 16 on Tuesday. Koeman’s side will still be the favourites heading into a clash with one of the tournament’s surprise packages, even if the Dutch needed a late Wout Weghorst winner against Poland to secure their only win of Euro 2024 so far.
By Van Dijk’s own admission, big improvements are required if the Netherlands are to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2008.
“Very bad match in all respects,” Van Dijk told NOS after that Austria reverse. “We started weakly, in possession of the ball, but also in duels. It was just a bad evening.
“Of course, it starts with the duels. The energy we put into that was just not good enough.
“We also talked about that at half-time. We have to do much better. That is clear. We are all responsible for this. There are not one or two people to blame. It should not happen. It does happen and that is bad.
“If we want to achieve anything in this tournament, that has to change quickly.”