Virgil van Dijk denies Sadio Mane's departure is to blame for Liverpool's slump, saying "he wanted to leave."
Liverpool allowed Sadio Mane to leave for Bayern Munich in the summer, but Virgil van Dijk has denied that the forward's departure is the direct cause of the Reds' dismal start to the season.
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has denied that Sadio Mane's summer departure has directly contributed to the club's poor start to the new season.
The Reds are currently 11th in the Premier League standings, having won just two of their first eight games of the season. Because of this, manager Jurgen Klopp has ruled his team out of contention for the Premier League title.
Many have tried to find a reason for Liverpool's current plight, with some claiming that Sadio Mane's summer departure for German giants Bayern Munich was a major factor, given the club's stuttering attack.
Van Dijk did not agree with that suggestion and stated that the Reds will be back to their free-flowing best sooner rather than later.
"That's funny, but I don't think it's that personally," he told Sky Sports. Sadio was obviously a huge player for us, but he wanted to leave, not that we wanted to let him go.
"We have players who have joined us. Outstanding performance by Luis Diaz. Darwin is learning how we really want to defend from the front, as well as the significance of when we have the ball and when we don't. It takes some time in this case, but I don't believe that is the main reason we are here.
Mane has had a rollercoaster start to life with his new club since swapping Anfield for the Allianz Arena. He has eight goals in 15 games across all competitions, but has already gone six games without scoring, raising concerns about his suitability for the German giants.
"Difficult start," he continued. It's difficult to pinpoint a specific cause. It could be a variety of factors, but I have no idea what they are, and it is pointless for us to speculate on why those games did not go as planned.
"We want to continue improving it now, and in order to do so, we have to work hard in training every day, fight for every yard in games, and try to win them."
"That's what we try to do, and I believe and continue to believe that we will be there because we have the talent." We'll keep working, keep improving, and hopefully we'll be able to turn things around."
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