Virgil van Dijk has been confirmed as the new captain of Liverpool FC, with Trent Alexander-Arnold appointed as vice-captain.
The centre-back – who also holds the same role for his country, the Netherlands – will take over the full-time occupancy of the armband following the departure of Jordan Henderson from the Reds.
In addition, the club can announce Alexander-Arnold as deputy to the captaincy, taking over the responsibility from James Milner.
Van Dijk told Liverpoolfc.com in Singapore: “[It’s] a really proud day for me, for my wife, for my kids, my family.
“It’s been a special feeling and I can’t really describe it at this point. But it’s something that I’m really, really proud of.
“Obviously I’m captain of Holland, that was already such a huge honour, a proud moment as well. But also to be the captain of Liverpool Football Club is something that I can’t describe at this point.
“It’s just something that makes me very proud and I will do everything in my power and what I can do to make everyone proud and happy with me and the football club.”
Van Dijk has clocked up 222 appearances for Liverpool since moving to Anfield from Southampton in January 2018.
During that time, he has collected seven winner’s medals as he helped the Reds lift the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the FA Community Shield.
And, with 2023-24 edging closer as Liverpool’s pre-season preparations continue, Van Dijk outlined a collective desire to bounce back after a disappointing campaign last time out.
“It has been a very disappointing year last year,” said Van Dijk. “It was actually not a bad run-in.
“Obviously in the end we didn’t achieve anything we hoped to achieve and that was very disappointing.
“Then you’re going on a very short summer holiday and you reflect on the season you’ve had, personally and as a team, and it hurts. It hurts a lot.
“You have pride as a human being and you feel like you could have done a lot better, you could have done a lot more consistently.
“I think that was a big thing that was missing: the consistent level that we showed over the last couple of years was missing.
“And obviously everyone wants to make this right. We all feel we have to do this together again each and every day, each and every game, with the fans as well.
“Obviously it has been quite an interesting summer with players obviously leaving and new players coming in, this little transition that is going on.
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“We also have to be a bit patient but we want to be there and we want to show what we’re capable of because we have a fantastic group of players, staff, fans, stadium, we shouldn’t even discuss that.
“But we can be up there again. It’s all about doing it together with the consistency and hopefully we can show it.”
