Liverpool have some great individuals but are a team first and foremost. The unity is amazing, how they all attack together, work together. Some of the players would slot into any Liverpool team from the past — Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold — but it’s down to the collective which is why they are currently champions of England, Europe and the world.
No Liverpool grouping has worked harder for each other, and that’s quite a statement given some of the club’s great sides. Klopp has improved and developed every single member of the squad. Van Dijk arrived as the most expensive defender in the world, but he’s even better now.
The manager has built something special and the trick is to hold on to it and continue growing. I am optimistic, Liverpool didn’t lose any of their key players last summer and, while every player is different, I think the attraction of playing for the best team in Europe will count for something. Would Sadio Mane or Salah enjoy their football as much anywhere else, even with Lionel Messi at Barcelona? It is doubtful. Mane still has three years left of his deal but with Real Madrid interested, I think a new one will be worked out.
I’ve been asked to give my ratings for every Liverpool player this season. Nobody deserves less than a 6/10 and most well above that. Three players merit perfect marks — Van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Mane. How could they improve?
This year’s Footballer of the Year award should be a Liverpool procession, a number of them deserve to be mentioned. But if I had to be pushed into naming one, I’d say Mane. He has been the game-changer so often this season, phenomenal.
Even in the last match against Crystal Palace, he was so sharp and I loved his hunger, the way he kept pressing the full-backs.
He’s a team player in the finest Klopp and Liverpool tradition.
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