Virgil van Dijk's son training with Liverpool as he looks to follow in footsteps

Virgil van Dijk’s son has been training at Liverpool as the youngster begins his footballing journey on Merseyside with the hopes he follows in his father's footsteps

Virgil van Dijk has opened up about his son training at Liverpool(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Virgil van Dijk’s legacy at Liverpool is extending to the next generation after the Liverpool captain reveals his son has been training at the club's academy.

Van Dijk’s standing as an Anfield great was further reinforced as Liverpool sealed the Premier League title in emphatic fashion, sweeping aside Tottenham Hotspur 5–1. In May, the Dutchman became the first Reds captain to lift the league championship trophy in front of the club’s supporters since Alan Hansen in 1990, capping one of the most consistent seasons of his career.

That campaign was rewarded with a new two-year contract and a collection of individual honours, having begun amid uncertainty following Arne Slot’s appointment as head coach after Jurgen Klopp’s departure.

In an interview with the Athletic, Van Dijk reflected on the triumph where he also revealed his son had been training at the club. The moment when the final whistle went was incredible" said the 34-year-old.

"Relief, joy. I always go over to Ali [Alisson] at the end of a game. Nine out of ten times I’m always the first one to go to Ali. At that particular moment I went to him he was with Wata [Wataru Endo] as well and I had a little tear in my eye.

"Then, I’m looking for my mum, my wife, my kids in the stands. It meant so much to them as well because they sacrificed so much for me. My son is actually training at the moment with Liverpool under-fives.

"He loves playing football at the house. He’s still very young, so I don’t know if he actually wants to do something with it, but he’s really keen to go and is having a great time. He sings all the songs.

"My eldest is 11 and she is absolutely on it, watching games, thinking, ‘What’s going on with this decision?’ When she has something to say, she’s very passionate. She has that fire in her already. Most of the time it’s like, 'Why did he give a yellow?' Or, 'You should have scored this one!'

Virgil van Dijk's son has been training with Liverpool's under fives(Image: Getty)

Van Dijk also opened up about how he deals with the setbacks on the pitch at home. He added: "Hopefully we’ve found consistency now, but between the defeat by Crystal Palace [in September] to recently there was a lot of noise.

"We’re dealing with a lot of players that have their own minds, they can go in different directions confidence-wise, physically.

"There may be a handful of games that I could have done better in this season, but I don’t want a handful of games that I have to improve. I want to make sure I have my best each and every game.

"I need football because it’s something I really love to do. When you have a difficult moment, you will maybe go home and think life is a lot more important than football, in terms of being healthy, being able to do what we do.

"I’m a father of four kids, so I’m going home and I can’t be the grumpy dad. They are looking up to me, and I’m not going to go home and shout at them because I had a bad training session, or we played a bad game and we lost."