Centre-back confirms he's ready to replace Virgil van Dijk

An exciting centre-back has confirmed with his performance that he's ready to join Liverpool and become Virgil van Dijk's heir.

Unfortunately, sooner or later the Reds are going to have to move on from their club captain. The ravages of time catch up with everyone.

Van Dijk will retire. When that will be remains to be seen. But it's not far away. The signs are already on the horizon. He has less than a year and a half left on his contract and it seems unlikely that he's going to extend beyond his current terms.

At 34-years-old, and soon to be 35 in the summer, that would not be a surprise. Liverpool don't hand out contracts to players of that age. Especially long-term ones.

At the same time, the club will also be thinking about the long-term. Richard Hughes has embarked on rebuilding this Liverpool team and the next few years will be an opportunity for him to set-up a new back-line.

We've seen the first signs of that with Giovanni Leoni joining in the summer. In the future, Mor Talla Ndiaye or Ifeanyi Ndukwe could easily be part of that defensive line-up as well.

But in the meantime Liverpool need a centre-back for the now. Someone who is ready to join and ready to come in and replace Van Dijk.

There aren't many centre-back options on the market of that calibre. Van Dijk is the best defender in the world. He has commanded Liverpool's defence for the last close to decade.

Coming in to fill his shoes is going to have enormous pressure on any player. You're going to have to be the very best and there's one player right now who is proving this exactly.

If you were to watch Tottenham on Tuesday night in the Champions League you would have seen the perfect successor emerge.

Borussia Dortmund may have lost 2-0 to Thomas Frank's side but Nico Schlotterbeck came out with a very positive impression, producing a performance that showed he was ready to join Liverpool and ready to play in the Premier League.

Despite his team's drab showing, Schlotterbeck managed to complete the most passes (59) in the game, win the most duels (12) and the most tackles (6).

At times he was single-handedly leading the back line and preventing Tottenham from scoring more. Without him in the side, Tottenham could have gone onto win the game four or even five nil.

That's how important and that's how much of a lifeline Schlotterbeck gave his side. He ultimately might not have made a difference on the result but definitely the overall scoreline.

Only the very best defenders are capable of having such an impact. Van Dijk has been able to do that for Liverpool for many years.

Schlotterbeck confirmed he could have a similar impact and that he is capable of stepping into the shoes of the Reds' club legend.

The German is simply the perfect player to replace Van Dijk.

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