Van Dijk named player of the month

Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk has won the award of Standard Chartered Player of the Month for August.

The Dutch international beat some fierce competition to claim the prize as he helped the club to three clean sheets from three games during the opening month of the season.

And the former Southampton man, who is the most expensive defender in the game, was pleased to receive the prize – but also credited his team-mates with how well they’ve played.

“Firstly, I want to say thank you very much to everyone who voted.” he told Liverpoolfc.com

“It was a great month for all of us, so a big thanks to everyone who voted for me.”

“Almost everyone in the team deserved it this month.

“Everyone has been outstanding, giving their all, and you could see that in the results.

“I’m very happy we’re doing so well at the moment and we need to keep going.

“It’s not only me and I would never take credit on my own. We do it all together and it starts on the training pitch.

“We had games we needed to grind out and make sure we gave our everything, but we also showed our quality.

“We did very well overall and had our moments in games which we were very pleased with.” he finished.

Van Dijk has been on international duty for Holland this week and will return to Anfield for the game against Spurs at Wembley on Saturday.