Life without Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool amid £68 million replacement discovered

We simulated the 2024/25 season without Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool amid doubts over the Dutchman’s future with the club.

Virgil van Dijk has revealed that the Netherlands’ Euro 2024 semi-final defeat to England has forced him to reflect.

Since joining Liverpool in 2018, Van Dijk has established himself as one of the best defenders in Premier League history, contributing significantly to the club’s recent success. The 33-year-old took over as Reds captain after Jordan Henderson left last summer, but with only one year left on his contract, the defender could be leaving shortly.

Following his country’s disappointing loss from Euro 2024, Van Dijk stated, “I will think carefully this summer about what I want at club level and as an international.” So, if the centre-back leaves Liverpool this summer, what will happen next season?

Let us have a look at Liverpool’s 2024/2025 season without Virgil van Dijk

To create this simulation, we used Football Manager 2024 to list Virgil van Dijk for transfer, with the defender joining Paris Saint-Germain for £37 million. We therefore made a new defence a priority for the Reds, and Arne Slot’s side signed Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni to replace Van Dijk.

In his first season with the club, Slot chose to keep Sepp van den Berg, with the Reds entering the 2024/25 season with five centre-backs in simulation. Ibrahima Konate and Bastoni were the two most frequently utilised centre-backs at the end of the season, with 51 and 48 appearances each.

Liverpool best defenders 2024-2025

Konate remained fit throughout the season, finishing as Liverpool’s best defender with an average rating of 7.14 per game. Jarell Quansah was the next highest (7.1), with Bastoni averaging the fourth-best rating (7.01) despite being frequently chosen over Quansah.

At the end of the 2024/25 season, Football Manager 24 compiled an overall best Liverpool XI based on performances, statistics, and other criteria. Here’s how it looked:

Liverpool’s best XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Bastoni, Robertson; Endo, Szoboszlai, MacAllister; Salah, Jota, Nunez.

Konate and Bastoni were the defensive pairing of choice to form the strongest XI, as expected given their extensive playing history together. Wataru Endo made the best XI in the midfield trio of Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai, while Darwin Nunez began ahead of Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz on the left as Diogo Jota

Van Dijk’s absence is significant on paper, and given Liverpool’s struggles when he was out during the 2020/21 season, the anxiety was reasonable. Despite this, the Reds fared well without their leader, placing second in the Premier League during the simulation.

Premier League table for 2024/2025

With 26 victories, four draws, and eight defeats, Liverpool finished the season with 82 points, the same as Arsenal in third place but with a higher goal difference. Manchester City strolled to another Premier League victory with 95 points, but without Van Dijk, Slot’s team finished the season with the league’s second-best defensive record, conceding only 32 goals.

Van Dijk was Liverpool’s hero in last season’s Carabao Cup final victory, but perhaps the defender’s presence was overlooked in the simulation as the Reds fell 3-1 to Arsenal in the 2024/25 final. The Reds also failed to win any trophies in the Champions League or the FA Cup, losing 4-2 to Real Madrid in the Round of 16 and 2-1 to Chelsea in the semi-finals.

Overall, FM24 forecasts that if Liverpool can find the perfect successor, Van Dijk will not be greatly missed in the 2024/25 season. Saying that one more season with their captain could be more valuable than extra money, with Slot presumably interested in having the Dutchman at the back for at least his first season as manager.