Virgil van Dijk is looking to maintain a high standard of consistency and success at Liverpool during his time as captain of the club.
The 32-year-old was officially confirmed as the new skipper with Trent Alexander-Arnold appointed as vice-captain.
Van Dijk has worn the armband on several occasions for the Reds in the absence of the departed Jordan Henderson but now he will take over the full-time occupancy of the role ahead of next season.
He has been at Liverpool for five-and-a-half seasons, racking up 222 appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side and making 31 goal contributions in the process.
Van Dijk told Liverpoolfc.com in Singapore: “[It’s] a really proud day for me, for my wife, for my kids, my family. It’s been a special feeling and I can’t really describe it at this point. But it’s something that I’m really, really proud of.
“Obviously I’m captain of Holland, that was already such a huge honour, a proud moment as well. But also to be the captain of Liverpool Football Club is something that I can’t describe at this point.
“It’s just something that makes me very proud and I will do everything in my power and what I can do to make everyone proud and happy with me and the football club.”
The Netherland skipper has helped the Reds lift the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, and the FA Community Shield so far.
He featured in 41 games and made four goal contributions as Liverpool performed underwhelming last season – missing out on Champions League qualification.
“It has been a very disappointing year last year,” added the centre-back. “It was actually not a bad run-in. Obviously in the end we didn’t achieve anything we hoped to achieve and that was very disappointing.
“Then you’re going on a very short summer holiday and you reflect on the season you’ve had, personally and as a team, and it hurts. It hurts a lot. You have pride as a human being and you feel like you could have done a lot better, you could have done a lot more consistently.
“I think that was a big thing that was missing: the consistent level that we showed over the last couple of years was missing. And obviously everyone wants to make this right. We all feel we have to do this together again each and every day, each and every game, with the fans as well.
“Obviously it has been quite an interesting summer with players obviously leaving and new players coming in, this little transition that is going on. We also have to be a bit patient but we want to be there and we want to show what we’re capable of because we have a fantastic group of players, staff, fans, stadium, we shouldn’t even discuss that.
“But we can be up there again. It’s all about doing it together with the consistency and hopefully we can show it.”
Read More Liverpool Coverage:
- Report: Marco Verratti Is To Jurgen Klopp’s Liking
- Liverpool Forced To Delay Opening Of £80million Anfield Road Stand
- Report: Liverpool Make ‘Initial Approach’ For Fluminense Midfielder – Timing Could Be An Issue
- Dominik Szoboszlai: Jurgen Klopp Provides The Latest On Midfielder’s Injury
- Defensive Frailties Warning In Liverpool’s 4-4 Draw With Greuther Furth In Pre-Season
- Greuther Furth 4-4 Liverpool: Five Positives For Jurgen Klopp
- Watch: Greuther Furth 4-4 Liverpool Highlights – Nunez At The Double For Erratic Reds