Virgil Van Dijk

[dkim2 73]

Born: July 8, 1991 (age 25), Breda, Netherlands

Height: 6′ 4″

Weight: 203 lbs

Imo, the best CB in PL right now. Big, strong, reasonably fast, can dribble and bomb forward without brain farts, very strong in air and has good passing. This is the guy we should look for. I am okay with splashing 50m for this guy.

 

Hazard-Costa-Pedro

Alonso-Matic-Kante-Moses

Dijk-Luiz-Azpi

 

Our team will be a damn strong fortress. 

 

[the wes 7,212]

Good player we will need another cb in the summer with JT near end off his career and big Ivan near done aswell I would bring Christensen back in the summer and buy another cb 

[BoyBlue96 990]

Know him since his FC Groningen days. He is the best centre back in the Premier League better than both of those Belgian Ajax(Spuds) fags Vertonghen and Alderweireld.

 

And Sunday he will prove that. He would be better to pick than what Conte wants with a young unproven lad like Romagnoli. Virgil with Zouma and Christensen would be great next year. 

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Brilliant CB. Probably most underrated in PL right now. Soton definately knows how to grow defenders. Great stuff from them for a while now. Fonte, Alderweireld, Lovren, Dijk...

I remember him playing for Celtic along Denayer, but didnt realy impress me. However since he came to Soton, he was realy consistent and improved alot.

He is a no nonsense CB, very strong, not shaddy on the ball either.

I would love to have him here. 

[quickpassnmove 924]

13 hours ago, BoyBlue96 said:

Know him since his FC Groningen days. He is the best centre back in the Premier League better than both of those Belgian Ajax(Spuds) fags Vertonghen and Alderweireld.

 

And Sunday he will prove that. He would be better to pick than what Conte wants with a young unproven lad like Romagnoli. Virgil with Zouma and Christensen would be great next year. 

wow. I think you just made a great call on those 3 for our future CBs with Luiz presumably staying on. Add on Tomori... we hope.

[BoyBlue96 990]

On 29-10-2016 at 7:31 AM, quickpassnmove said:

wow. I think you just made a great call on those 3 for our future CBs with Luiz presumably staying on. Add on Tomori... we hope.

I still prefer Van Dijk over Cahill and Luiz even though those 2 are doing just fine at the moment.

[Socur Toxanarosa 145]

We don't need another CB: Azpi, Luiz, Christenssen, Zouma and Cahill are fine for next season.

[jernej93 565]

14 hours ago, Socur Toxanarosa said:

We don't need another CB: Azpi, Luiz, Christenssen, Zouma and Cahill are fine for next season.

Funny how things change .. Cahill was a disgrace in September and now he is capable of playing first 11 even when 2 transfer windows are available? And what is with Christiansen hype on this forum? He is pretty average in Bundesliga and Champions league, he is "a project" not a starter 

[Socur Toxanarosa 145]

2 hours ago, jernej93 said:

Funny how things change .. Cahill was a disgrace in September and now he is capable of playing first 11 even when 2 transfer windows are available? And what is with Christiansen hype on this forum? He is pretty average in Bundesliga and Champions league, he is "a project" not a starter 

Never said Cahill was ideal for first 11, he is great for the bench tho. Christensen was Gladbach's player of the year by a wide margin IIRC, a team that qualified for Champions League.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

39 minutes ago, Socur Toxanarosa said:

Never said Cahill was ideal for first 11, he is great for the bench tho. Christensen was Gladbach's player of the year by a wide margin IIRC, a team that qualified for Champions League.

Why is everyone talking about Christensen like he is the next Thuram?

He wont just walk in our first 11 and start performing brilliantly. If anyone expects that, he will be dissapointed come next season.

At best, he will get slowly in the team and will have to put good performances for Chelsea. I honestly dont care if he was best player at Monchengladback in bundesliga. Its great he has improved, but I wont get hyped until I see him play well in Chelsea shirt.

Honestly, I think he is very good for his age, but he would probably get skinned by stronger, faster or good tecnhical players. He doesnt strike me as reliable CB, hence he likes to keep the ball alot and physicaly, he is no where near the level of what CB should be in PL IMO. He will need damn great tactical atributes to cover up for his physique.

Football is evolving yes, but PL is PL. And I would still chose Terry or Vidic over ball playing CBs (JT is actualy very good on the ball, but he is still a no nonsense CB first) everytime.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

17 hours ago, Socur Toxanarosa said:

We don't need another CB: Azpi, Luiz, Christenssen, Zouma and Cahill are fine for next season.

Also, we had 4 good games with this pairing. This kind of answer might be proper at the end of the season if those 3 keep up the form.

And even then, regardless of how well we do, there is always room for improvement.

[the wes 7,212]

4 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

Why is everyone talking about Christensen like he is the next Thuram?

He wont just walk in our first 11 and start performing brilliantly. If anyone expects that, he will be dissapointed come next season.

At best, he will get slowly in the team and will have to put good performances for Chelsea. I honestly dont care if he was best player at Monchengladback in bundesliga. Its great he has improved, but I wont get hyped until I see him play well in Chelsea shirt.

Honestly, I think he is very good for his age, but he would probably get skinned by stronger, faster or good tecnhical players. He doesnt strike me as reliable CB, hence he likes to keep the ball alot and physicaly, he is no where near the level of what CB should be in PL IMO. He will need damn great tactical atributes to cover up for his physique.

Football is evolving yes, but PL is PL. And I would still chose Terry or Vidic over ball playing CBs (JT is actualy very good on the ball, but he is still a no nonsense CB first) everytime.

Christensen has played the last few games in midfield for Monchengladbach I think we should bring back Christensen and sign another centre-back van dijk would be indeed centre back I would sign but  he will not come cheap tho 

[Dazzy_Vance 454]

Don't need anymore CBs. An upgrade on Alonso and Pedro will do us.

[Fernando 6,375]

These are the buys that are much easier to get, then instead of trying to buy from Atletico or Juventus. 

I'm down for this one if Conte likes it. 

[the wes 7,212]

2 hours ago, Fernando said:

These are the buys that are much easier to get, then instead of trying to buy from Atletico or Juventus. 

I'm down for this one if Conte likes it. 

 On 7 May 2016, Van Dijk signed a new six-year contract with the Saints I don't think Southampton will give in that easy in selling him

[DYC. 7,542]

18 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

Why is everyone talking about Christensen like he is the next Thuram?

He wont just walk in our first 11 and start performing brilliantly. If anyone expects that, he will be dissapointed come next season.

At best, he will get slowly in the team and will have to put good performances for Chelsea. I honestly dont care if he was best player at Monchengladback in bundesliga. Its great he has improved, but I wont get hyped until I see him play well in Chelsea shirt.

Honestly, I think he is very good for his age, but he would probably get skinned by stronger, faster or good tecnhical players. He doesnt strike me as reliable CB, hence he likes to keep the ball alot and physicaly, he is no where near the level of what CB should be in PL IMO. He will need damn great tactical atributes to cover up for his physique.

Football is evolving yes, but PL is PL. And I would still chose Terry or Vidic over ball playing CBs (JT is actualy very good on the ball, but he is still a no nonsense CB first) everytime.

He can't be the next Thuram because Thuram was a right-back (who could play in the centre but a fullback first).

He shouldn't walk into the side but he deserves a chance. He's HG and he's an academy graduate. Players like him should be coveted as he could be the first graduate to make it in the starting XI since JT, who made his debut almost 20 years ago. Look at how Stones' Englishness and HG status made him so extremely expensive and receive more praise than he deserved.

Chelsea already have 'no nonsense defenders' in Azpilicueta, Zouma and Cahill. Even David Luiz fits that bill in a way with his physical and aggressive style of defending. A trio of Azpilicueta, Luiz (in his current level-headed form), Christensen (if he does well) is pretty complementary. And Christensen is at that age where he can still be molded in his style of defending and grow physically. Conte should love that as he seems to be a genuine coach.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

1 hour ago, DYC. said:

He can't be the next Thuram because Thuram was a right-back (who could play in the centre but a fullback first).

He shouldn't walk into the side but he deserves a chance. He's HG and he's an academy graduate. Players like him should be coveted as he could be the first graduate to make it in the starting XI since JT, who made his debut almost 20 years ago. Look at how Stones' Englishness and HG status made him so extremely expensive and receive more praise than he deserved.

Chelsea already have 'no nonsense defenders' in Azpilicueta, Zouma and Cahill. Even David Luiz fits that bill in a way with his physical and aggressive style of defending. A trio of Azpilicueta, Luiz (in his current level-headed form), Christensen (if he does well) is pretty complementary. And Christensen is at that age where he can still be molded in his style of defending and grow physically. Conte should love that as he seems to be a genuine coach.

What you said is very true, but I find it funny when people automaticaly throw Christensen in our next year lineup even tho he hasnt played a single game here in two years. He is a big prospect, but saying we shouldnt look for other CBs because we have Christensen is wrong IMO...I agree we shouldnt look for young defenders, but if lets say Bonucci comes available, it would be stupid to say no because we have Christensen.

Im not entirely convinced by him yet, but he deserves chance. However he should get Chalobah treatment, get chances slowly and see how he does. If he shines, it wont be problem to play him, if not we have other options. But it would be stupid to go into next season with Azpi, Cahill, Luiz, Zouma and Christensen IMO. Only reason that might work is because of Conte who would figure it out, but I think if we want to target trophies, thats not enough I think.

Just because of last 4 games, it doesnt mean Cahill is world class and will do fine for another year and half. Thats wrong thinking.

If anyone deserves to get any kind of chance soon is Zouma who actualy played brilliantly till his injury. To throw Christensen instead of Zouma in that 3 man defense is plain disrespect. No way is Christensen deserving chance more than Zouma and from pure football perspective; Zouma is the better defender than Christensen.

Anyway things could change alot in next few months. This season we will see if Luiz can hold it together on consistent level, same with Cahill and how will Zouma react after injury. If everyone plays brilliantly, no way will Christensen get in team next year and if Luiz and Cahill cant remain consistent, we will definately need experienced CB.

And about Thuram, we can argue if he was rb or cb whole night haha. He played both roles great, but he was always more CB to me than RB. If I remember correctly, he played CB in monaco, RCB in parma and then RB at juve, but in france he played CB sometimes, RB sometimes. In barca he was CB too, no? Anyway even at RB he was always the one who defended on par for a CB, which is not common for fullbacks.

[DYC. 7,542]

3 hours ago, BlueLyon said:

What you said is very true, but I find it funny when people automaticaly throw Christensen in our next year lineup even tho he hasnt played a single game here in two years. He is a big prospect, but saying we shouldnt look for other CBs because we have Christensen is wrong IMO...I agree we shouldnt look for young defenders, but if lets say Bonucci comes available, it would be stupid to say no because we have Christensen.

Im not entirely convinced by him yet, but he deserves chance. However he should get Chalobah treatment, get chances slowly and see how he does. If he shines, it wont be problem to play him, if not we have other options. But it would be stupid to go into next season with Azpi, Cahill, Luiz, Zouma and Christensen IMO. Only reason that might work is because of Conte who would figure it out, but I think if we want to target trophies, thats not enough I think.

Just because of last 4 games, it doesnt mean Cahill is world class and will do fine for another year and half. Thats wrong thinking.

If anyone deserves to get any kind of chance soon is Zouma who actualy played brilliantly till his injury. To throw Christensen instead of Zouma in that 3 man defense is plain disrespect. No way is Christensen deserving chance more than Zouma and from pure football perspective; Zouma is the better defender than Christensen.

Anyway things could change alot in next few months. This season we will see if Luiz can hold it together on consistent level, same with Cahill and how will Zouma react after injury. If everyone plays brilliantly, no way will Christensen get in team next year and if Luiz and Cahill cant remain consistent, we will definately need experienced CB.

I disagree with that Chalobah treatment part. Chalobah was/is a nobody. Failing to impress in his time away at the club. Christensen is a player who has impressed and has performed better than all the defenders at the club, bar Azpilicueta (maybe Luiz too, don't know), since 15/16.

Cahill is fine as a back-up. He always should've been a back-up.

Zouma wasn't brilliant at all. He only escaped criticism because he is young and fresh. He was slightly better than JT and Gary but he wasn't good enough either. Very good athlete but so much to learn tactically and his distribution is not good (Cahill is better than him on the ball yet he gets ridiculed for it). And he's returning from a major injury. There's a pretty big chance he won't be the same since his physical shape plays a big part in his game.

Only a world-class defender should be bought. But I don't believe in the likes of Bonucci joining at all. Chelsea are better off trusting and investing in their own defenders than buy a CB like Van Dijk, Manolas or Rudiger. That's how I see it anyway.

Getting back to the top and is a process and it's going to take a while. Chelsea will need to develop players (and buy smart). Look at Juve. Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Lichsteiner Vidal, Marchisio, Pogba were not top players when Conte arrived. Buffon and Pirlo were legends but not at their best. Same with Simeone at Atletico with the likes of Courtois, Godin, Miranda, Juanfran, Luis, Gabi, Tiago, Koke, Turan, Costa. We can only hope to see the same at Chelsea.