Virgil van Dijk: Pundits have ‘duty of responsibility’ when criticising players

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has told football pundits they have a “duty of responsibility” to younger players when they criticise performances.

Earlier this season Van Dijk challenged former Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney after comments about his displays for Liverpool, and more recently United defender Lisandro Martinez has responded to criticism from Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

Speaking to one of those pundits, Gary Neville on Sky Sports, Van Dijk accepted some criticism is inevitable but said ex-players need to think about the impact they can have on the mental health of players – particularly younger professionals – and not chase ‘clickbait’.

“For me personally, I can deal with it, but I’m a bit worried for the next generation,” the 34-year-old told Neville on Sky Sports. “I feel like the ex-top players have a responsibility to the new generation.

“Criticism is absolutely normal and part of the game, and I think it should stay that way. But sometimes criticism also goes into being clickbait, saying things to provoke things, and without thinking about the repercussions for a mental side of players, and especially the younger generation, who are constantly on social media…

“There is always this thing of when you play a good game, younger players check all the positive praises, but when you have a worse game, and you’re getting bullied all over social media, or you’re getting bad criticism, it can really affect you.”

Van Dijk’s manager, Arne Slot, has been under the spotlight this season due to an underwhelming defence of their Premier League title. As they prepare for Sunday’s match against second-placed Manchester City, Liverpool go into the weekend 14 points behind leaders Arsenal.

“Criticism for the season we are having is well-deserved because of the way we have been playing at times, the way we have been losing games on the bounce, that’s not the standard we set, especially last year,” Van Dijk added.

“But you have criticism and you have disrespect…We are in a process of things, and it takes time.”