By Simon Wilkes
Virgil van Dijk has expressed his ‘love’ for Liverpool amid rumours that talks around a new contract at Anfield are ‘progressing’.
This summer is likely to be a busy one in the transfer window for Liverpool boss Arne Slot, with Trent Alexander-Arnold linked with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.
While there is uncertainty over the future of England defender Alexander-Arnold and talisman Mohamed Salah, who is also out of contract at the end of this season, it seems that talks over a new deal for captain Van Dijk are taking place.
Dominant force
The Dutchman has been a dominant force at the heart of the Reds defence since moving to Merseyside from Southampton for £75million in January 2018.
Van Dijk has scored 19 goals in 228 Premier League appearances, and when asked after Sunday’s defeat to Fulham if there had been any updates on his future, he said: “There is progress, yeah.
“Listen, these are internal discussions and we’ll see.
“I love the club, I love the fans and they were there for us again [at Fulham].
“We wanted to reward them, but I ask them to be there again on Sunday [against West Ham] and make the stadium an amazing venue like always for us.”
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Well placed in league
Slot’s men sit 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal after Merseyside neighbours Everton held the Gunners to a draw at Goodison Park on Saturday.
That meant Sunday’s loss to the Cottagers was not as costly as it could have been.
Van Dijk, now 33, was caught out at times by Fulham’s forward line – but Liverpool boss Slot jumped to his skipper’s defence, telling the press: “I still see a lot of things that Virgil does really well.
“If you play 50 to 60 games a season, even for Virgil, there will be one or two moments where he could have done better. I don’t worry about Virgil.”
Van Dijk also struggled to cope with the physicality of Beto in the Merseyside derby, but Slot countered: “If you look at Beto, Virgil wasn’t the first defender to find it hard to play against him as he chases for every ball, pushes you just before you get the ball.”
The Liverpool skipper is staying focused on the job in hand, however, and is backing the Reds to recover from Sunday’s setback.
He said: “That’s definitely the mentality in our group, that the job is not done and now we just have to recover from this physically and mentally and put our minds on West Ham at home.”
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Ren Azrack Escosio 
Jheruleene Anne Ramos 
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