According to El Nacional, Van Dijk has yet to renew his contract, sparking interest from several clubs, including Barcelona. The idea of Virgil van Dijk joining Barcelona is the type of transfer rumor that sounds impressive on paper but becomes increasingly difficult to justify the deeper you look at Barcelona’s current direction. With Liverpool bringing Ronald Araújo into the fold, there is understandable speculation that Barcelona could potentially look to bring the nearly 28-year-old defender back to Catalonia.
But if Barcelona were to seriously consider adding Van Dijk alongside that situation, the club would be making a decision that appears inconsistent with the direction it has taken in recent seasons. Van Dijk remains a legendary defender and one of the defining center-backs of his generation. But Barcelona does not simply need a famous center-back. It needs a defender who fits the physical and tactical demands of Hansi Flick's system.
No Logic In The Van Dijk Direction
That is where the logic starts to fall apart. At 35 years old, Van Dijk is well beyond his physical prime. It wasn’t that long ago that questions were being raised as to whether he would still be able to carry Liverpool’s defense in the elite company. Experience and positioning have been helping him stay an influential player for his club, but Barcelona will need him to do a job which may require even more from him.
Defensive concerns for Barcelona do not lie in the area of aerial dominance and physical presence in the middle of the pitch. The real concern lies in the scenario where they lose possession. Barcelona likes to go forward with numbers. Full-backs can push up, midfielders play aggressively, and center-backs find themselves with lots of space to defend behind them. With the loss of possession, they leave themselves vulnerable to the opponent’s quick attacks in these spaces.
It is necessary for Barcelona to have players in their back line who can respond swiftly enough to save them from a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Physicality is key. But the ability to recover could be even more critical. This is the reason why a physically fit, younger center-back might make much more sense for Flick's Barcelona than a veteran star whose most prominent characteristics are positioning, anticipation, strength and composure. Van Dijk is still an excellent center-back on the pitch, but what Barcelona needs is more than just that.
Key For The Defense
What Barcelona needs is athleticism and speed over distance. What it needs is also a center-back who is comfortable pushing deep into midfield, playing one-versus-one in open spaces and then turning around and sprinting to his goal line once the opponent breaks the line of defense. This is especially so since the attacking philosophy of Barcelona is not likely to change any time soon.
Flick wants his team to attack aggressively, and that is the kind of young players he has built his squad around. It should be noted that Barcelona has recently signed many of them to new contracts, showing that nurturing the next generation of footballers is crucial for the club. So signing Van Dijk will be quite contrary to this philosophy. That would not necessarily make it a bad signing since Van Dijk is a poor player. It would make it a questionable one since the player and the system will no longer move in the same footballing direction.
The Needed Move
Barcelona should be looking to sign the next defender who can become the cornerstone of their defense rather than another veteran who was a top-class defender at one point in his career. The case of Araújo makes the discussion all the more intriguing. If Barcelona wants more physicality from its defenders, then it should sign a young defender who knows how to play for the team and, at the same time, continue with its philosophy.
The athleticism, pace, and ability of Araújo to cover ground are much more appropriate for the kind of weaknesses Barcelona has in their system of play when the line goes up too high. After all, Barcelona should not look to sign a reputation. It should look to sign a profile. But the one that really fits is the physically gifted player who is fast and aggressive and pushes up when Barcelona has the ball before falling back quickly after the ball is won.
Van Dijk has gained immense respect due to what he has been able to do. However, the defense that Barcelona should build will depend on the kind of football that Barcelona will want to play in the next couple of years – not the kind of football Van Dijk dominated some years ago. For an increasingly youthful and aggressive team, Van Dijk at age 35 doesn’t seem to be the perfect choice.
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