Strikers get spooked by the aura of world-class defenders and tend to avoid them altogether — especially Van Dijk

Normally, though, he is the master of laidback defending. Watching him, it is tempting to recall the phrase Bill Shankly used to introduce Ron Yeats, an earlier generation of Liverpool captain, to the media. “Take a walk around my centre-half, gentlemen, he’s a colossus,” he said.

Virgil van Dijk has signed a new two-year contract at Liverpool; Van Dijk joined the club from Southampton for a then-world-record fee for a defender in January 2018; Mohamed Salah signed a new Liverpool deal last Friday;