Virgil van Dijk provides encouraging update about his Liverpool future | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk says talks over a new contract at Liverpool are “progressing”.

The defender’s current deal runs out at the end of the season but talks have been underway over extending his seven-year stay at the club.

And speaking about those discussions after Liverpool’s defeat to Fulham on Sunday, he said: “There is progress, yeah.”

Asked whether that means he will sign a new deal, he replied: “I don’t know, we’ll see.

“Listen, these are internal discussions and we’ll see.

“I love the club, I love the fans and they were there for us again [at Fulham]. We wanted to reward them, but I ask them to be there again on Sunday and make the stadium an amazing venue like always for us.”

Liverpool’s defeat to Fulham was just their second in the league this season.

The Reds had taken the lead through Alexis Mac Allister’s superb strike before the home side came from behind to make it 3-1 thanks to Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz, with Luis Diaz adding what proved to be a consolation goal late on.

Despite the defeat, Liverpool still look a near certainty to lift the Premier League title come the end of the season but van Dijk was keen to ensure his team-mates remain focused.

“That’s definitely the mentality in our group,” he said. “That the job is not done and now we just have to recover from this physically and mentally and put our minds on West Ham at home.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot also backed van Dijk after the game against Fulham, in which the Reds skipper and the rest of the defence struggled to deal with Fulham’s front-line at times.

He said: “The one who played there today, you have to give a lot of credit to him as well. I still see a lot of things that Virgil does really well.

“If you play 50 to 60 games a season, even for Virgil, there will be one or two moments where he could have done better. I don’t worry about Virgil.”