Richard Keys has boldly claimed Virgil van Dijk looked like a player who had made up his mind about leaving the club during Liverpool’s defeat by Arsenal on Sunday evening.
The Dutch defender endured a rare off-day in a Reds shirt, highlighted by his costly mix-up with Alisson Becker which enabled Arsenal to score their second goal of the match.
Van Dijk was also not on the same wavelength for the Gunners’ opening goal, holding a high line which the rest of the back four failed to keep and subsequently left a gaping gap for the hosts to advance into before scoring.
The Liverpool captain fell below his usual standards in what was a disappointing day for the club. Offering his take on what went wrong, Keys laid the blame on Jurgen Klopp for revealing his decision to leave the club at the end of the season to his squad. I
The beIN SPORTS host said: “You leave yourself open to that allegation when you perform like that and the coach has made his intent plain to leave at the end of the season.
“Don’t make that announcement public, keep it quiet until the summer. He has brought this upon himself and if many more performances like that, more allegations will follow.”
“Van Dijk looked like he had already moved on,” continued Keys. “I think the intensity has gone. I repeat what I said earlier: it’s a bit like being in the office when the boss goes at five o’clock and you’re not due to leave until six. Everything stops.”
