According to Henk Spaan, the fact that Virgil van Dijk is no longer the same is entirely due to Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. The journalist from Het Parool points out the English closing post as responsible for the demise of Van Dijk’s career, as he ‘committed an attack’ on the knee of the Liverpool defender three years ago. Although Pickford immediately indicated that he was ‘devastated’ by Van Dijk’s serious knee injury, Spaan considers it necessary to attribute his entire column to the goalkeeper three years later.
In a short column, Spaan writes that during the Netherlands’ victory over Ireland (1-2 win), he still saw that Van Dijk was suffering from the consequences of his injury. “It has been three years since Jordan Pickford attacked Virgil van Dijk’s knee. There was a moment on the sidelines against Ireland when Van Dijk was walked out by an opponent from whom he would once have laughed and stolen the ball without wasting a drop of sweat.”
Spaan mentions a number of statements by English analysts, who were unrelenting for Pickford at the time, and then draws his conclusion about Van Dijk. “I did not comment on Van Dijk’s game with compassion on X (formerly Twitter, ed.). I maintain that he is no longer the designated captain of the Dutch national team. But it is certain that Pickford, who did not even receive a card before his attack, is responsible for the demise of Virgil’s career.” Van Dijk had to be substituted during the match in question, after which the city derby ended 2-2. A long rehabilitation period followed for the Breda resident.
While Spaan again lashes out at Pickford, the English goalkeeper has already been punished for his action several times in recent years. Carlo Ancelotti, Everton’s manager at the time, revealed immediately afterwards that the international was broken. “To be clear: we are very sorry about Virgil van Dijk’s injury. Everyone hopes that he can recover quickly and well. Because the Premier League is so fast, it’s easy to be late. That happened now with Jordan. His intention was to hit the ball, not to hurt Van Dijk. People who say he did this with premeditation are going too far in my opinion. Virgil van Dijk knows that too. Jordan is really sad and disappointed that Van Dijk is injured.”