Liverpool signed Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton in 2018 and initially, the Reds received a lot of slack for paying such a hefty price for the defender.
But this season, Van Dijk has gone on to prove that he is worth every single penny – and perhaps even more.
Van Dijk was awarded the PFA Player of the Year this season and he also won the Champions League as Liverpool beat Spurs earlier this month.
The defender also paid a key role for the Netherlands as the Oranje reached the Nations League final where they eventually lost to Portugal.
This past season, Van Dijk has played in 56 games for club and country and not many strikers can boast of having gotten the better of the centre-back.
In fact, during the whole of the 2018-19 season, there was only one player who managed to dribble past Van Dijk.
And that man was Manchester City’s, Leroy Sane.
As per Squawka: “The winger doing so in the 42nd minute of a 2-2 draw between Germany and Netherlands in the Uefa Nations League group-stage game in November. The result sealed the Oranje’s place in the semi-finals, with Van Dijk scoring a late equaliser.”
Leroy Sane had a real roller coaster 2018 as he was left out of Germany’s World Cup squad for 2018.
He did give a fitting reply to all his critics by scoring 16 and assisting 18 goals for Manchester City in this past season but towards the end, Pep Guardiola clearly lost faith in the 23-year-old.
But despite all this, the name of Leroy Sane will forever be etched in history as he was the only footballer who managed to get back Virgil Van Dijk in such a huge season.
Squawka also added that Spurs’ forward Son Heung-min could have been the second player.
“Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min was close to joining Sane on the list in the Champions League final, as Spurs looked for a way back into the game, but Van Dijk produced a brilliant recovery to thwart the South Korean with a last-ditch tackle.”
