Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Liverpool need to add a leader to the team in the mould of club legend Jamie Carragher to win the Premier League.
The Manchester United legend suggested that Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk could be the player to improve the fortunes of a team that squandered the chance of victories against Chelsea and Sevilla in the last two matches due to errors at the back.
On BT Sport’s Premier League Tonight a fan asked the panel, consisting of Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, what is needed for the team to win the league and whether the Reds miss having a leader like Carragher in the team.
Gerrard admitted that the team would always miss a player like his fellow teammate Carragher due to his organisational qualities.
Ferdinand then chipped in, revealing he believes the lack of leader is what is holding back Liverpool.
“I do think they’re lacking something like that in the team,” Ferdinand told BT Sport. “When things aren’t going their way, you get the vibe people are looking around to the bench rather than someone on the pitch and that’s one things they need to change really to take this team on.”
The former United defender said “there aren’t too many out there in the market” but admitted that Van Dijk was one option, stating that you just hope he has “the stature, the personality, the presence to lead a team.”
OPINION
Liverpool’s failure to hold on to three points against Chelsea once again highlighted the brittleness of a team that has so many attacking qualities, but a softness that will prevent them from ever winning the major trophies. It was not the defenders that were to blame on this occasion – they all had solid matches – but goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who dented a reputation that had improved during a decent 2017. Liverpool are crying out for a solid centre-back to partner the impressive Joel Matip and Van Dijk would fit the bill perfectly. Intriguingly, ex-Saint boss Claude Puel recently hailed him as the best centre-back in Europe. Go for it, Jurgen. Again.