VAN DIJK A GAMECHANGER AND ALMOST BALLON D’OR WINNER

Only seven points parted Van Dijk and Messi; seven points that could have changed the history of the Golden Ball, making it a little more interesting than it has been for the past five years; the predictability of the ceremony has indeed made it boring and somehow repetitive, taking away the element of surprise.

Above all these seven points would have allowed the central defender of Liverpool to become the second to win what is considered to be the greatest individual award in the football world since the Italian Fabio Cannavaro won this award in 2006.

The giant Dutch of almost seventy-eight inches arrived in Liverpool in summer 2016, after some years spent in Southampton, for the crazy sum of almost 85 million euros. He integrated into the 11 holders of Liverpool quite easily, it must be said. That indisputable with his former club, Van Dijk is certainly not a stranger to the Premier League which contributed to his fast integration since he did not have to learn a new language or a new football culture. The reflection of these performances is remarkable, the result of his performance in the club is very remarkable: There is a before Van Dijk and after him. Indeed, statistics do not lie; there has been a change in the performance of Liverpool since he has joined the club, to his presence and even if the team ended up losing the race for the title of champion of England against Manchester City, he has however helped his team believe until the end and he has brought about a sense of security and confidence among the goalkeeper and his partners in defense.

This contributed a lot to the team's performance at the sixth coronation of Liverpool in the Champions League and earned him the title of best UEFA male player after He had already been voted best player in the Premier League by his pairs.

Unfortunately, these efforts were not enough for him to win the Golden Ball. This can be explained by the presence of a large number of stars within the team: all the merits of the season cannot be attributed to Van Dijk alone since Liverpool is more of a collective team than a team that depends on a single player. Unlike his opponent in the race for the Golden Ball Lionel Messi, who is the only big star in the Barcelona squad, Van Dijk had to face the competition of Sadio Mané and Mohammed Salah who have both also had an excellent season in the front attack and have a lot of merit for their contribution to the team.

Would he have had a better career had he played in a big but younger team? The question remains open, although he has a career that many would envy.