Press conferenceVirgil van Dijk Q&A: Leadership, Liverpool captaincy, Asia return and more

The club’s previous captain and vice-captain are among several senior players to have departed Anfield this summer but, while acknowledging that they will be missed on and off the pitch, Van Dijk has no doubt that members of the current squad will lead from the front moving forward.

“I see leaders definitely, and definitely players who can become that leader of the team,” the No.4 said during Saturday’s pre-match press conference in Singapore, held to preview Sunday’s meeting with Leicester City – a match you can watch live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO*.

“Obviously it’s not overnight that these things happen but definitely we have a lot of players who can take that responsibility and have to take that responsibility, so I’m confident that that will happen.

“But obviously those names who left us were very important for us with their experience and obviously the quality they have as well, but others have to step up now.”

Read a transcript of the rest of Van Dijk’s press conference below…

*In Australia the match will not be shown live but will be available on a delayed basis after the final whistle.

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On Henderson’s departure…

Well obviously he is going to be a big miss for us, as a player but definitely as a leader, as a captain. [He is] someone who has been so important for us in our success over the last years, in the success for the club in the last years so we’re going to miss him, we’re going to miss him a lot. But that’s part of football as well, players come and go, and others have to step up now and that’s the reality. But he will missed, I will definitely miss him, and we wish him all the best.

On whether there is a feeling within the squad of wanting to put right what went wrong last season…

I definitely think that’s the case. Obviously we all are human beings and over the last years we all had a lot of success together and if you have a season like we had last year, where a lot of things didn’t go as we all wanted, then you want to put it right. So far in the pre-season [it has] been very good, very hard but very good, and hopefully it can benefit us for the rest of the season.

On the possibility of him succeeding Henderson as club captain…

Well, on the captaincy that’s not been announced yet so I can’t say too much about it. But obviously I’ve been captaining the side multiple times already over the last couple of years and it’s always a proud moment to do that. We will see what the future brings but it would be a huge honour to captain the side.

On the squad’s return to Asia…

Well, it’s always a great trip to do, we love to come here. We love the fans, we appreciate all of you supporting us all over the world but obviously to be here and to feel the love, everyone wants to feel loved and to see all the fans at the hotel, at the training, obviously tonight [open training] is going to be great again, like last year it was. So it’s always an amazing feeling to be on this side of the world and to see so many happy faces and make fans happy as well. We are very privileged and blessed to do that and let’s just keep that going, of course.

On Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai and how he is helping them to settle in…

To be fair, I’m very impressed with those guys and obviously it’s just the start, it’s pre-season, but these guys have been settling in pretty well. And I think on the leadership point, everyone who is coming in, you just want to welcome them as you wanted to be welcomed. That’s the normal [thing] I think and the norm here especially. They are great guys and we get along pretty well, and hopefully we can all have success together as well.

On how he is feeling physically and whether he will benefit from having had a break over the summer…

Well, let’s hope so! I’ve had a fantastic summer holiday and I feel great. We had a good camp in Germany where we trained hard but also did a lot of tactical work that was very much needed. I feel great and hopefully we can all benefit from that, including myself.