The mad Ronald Koeman claim about Virgil van Dijk

On September 22nd against Southampton, every Liverpool fan held their breath when Virgil van Dijk went down holding his stomach.

Van Dijk has been the ringleader of the Red’s new and ferocious defense for the past year, and he has made his presence known. Since then, the £75 million star has played games against Chelsea, Napoli and Manchester City – all huge ties.

With the magnitude of the games, fans did not really think twice about the Dutch international being hurt because he still played well in each of them, only allowing two team goals in those three respective games.

However, according to ESPN, the current Netherlands boss and former Everton manager Ronald Koeman has made this mad claim about van Dijk and his injury.

"“Virgil has played a couple of weeks with two broken ribs. He wanted to play against Germany, so now we have to give [Liverpool] something in return.”"

To think that Virgil has been playing with broken ribs through some major fixtures for both club and country is an impressive feat. It also is a huge display of his character and heart that he has for stepping out on the field every weekend for the Reds.

However, on the flip side, we must be careful with one of our biggest and most important gems. Without the giant in the middle, the Liverpool defense becomes shaky and unorganized, which is why manager Jurgen Klopp must be careful with this injury.

It was a respectful move for Koeman to give van Dijk a rest to make sure he would be healthy for the Red’s game on the weekend against Huddersfield.

Liverpool face a much easier schedule in the next month then they had to start the season, but they will still be as important because we cannot afford to drop points with Chelsea and Manchester City also at the top of the table.

Therefore, having van Dijk healthy is a must. Letting the defender sit out against a Huddersfield team this is sputtering might even be a good move for Klopp to really let the big man’s ribs heal properly.