“I think it’s brilliant” – Rio Ferdinand praises Van Dijk over ‘prickly’ reply to Rooney criticism | OneFootball

Rio Ferdinand has praised Virgil van Dijk for publicly calling out Wayne Rooney after the latter questioned the Liverpool captain’s leadership this season.

The ex-Everton and Manchester United striker took aim at the Dutchman and Mo Salah after the Reds’ recent defeat to Brentford, claiming that the two of them haven’t ‘really led’ their team in the current campaign and critiquing their ‘body language’.

The LFC skipper waited until after the win over Aston Villa on Saturday to have his say, hitting back at the 40-year-old over what he described as ‘lazy criticism’, with Rooney subsequently standing over his initial comments.

Ferdinand weighs in on Rooney/Van Dijk spat

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, the former England defender didn’t blindly side with his long-time Old Trafford teammate, but rather applauded Van Dijk for not taking the criticism lying down.

The 46-year-old said: “I absolutely love that Virgil van Dijk, the captain of Liverpool, is coming out and saying, ‘I ain’t having what people are saying, I don’t agree with that and I don’t agree with that’. I think it’s brilliant.

“This is what you want. This is what you need. You need players of character, a bit of personality. Whether you agree with him or not, it’s a different conversation, but I like the fact that he’s prickly and he reads it and he sees it, he hears it and he goes, ‘No, I’m not having that and I want to call it out’.”

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Van Dijk embodies what we want to see in a Liverpool captain

We must admit we’re pleasantly surprised by Ferdinand’s take on the spat between Van Dijk and Rooney, given his many years of playing with the Croxteth native for Man United and England.

Even if some of the Liverpool captain’s performances this season haven’t been up to his usual world-class standards, his qualities as a leader within the squad can’t be called into question.

No sooner had Amara Nallo been sent off in the Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace last week than the 34-year-old (who wasn’t in the matchday squad that night) followed him straight down the Anfield tunnel to console him, offering the teenager his support at a time when it was most needed.

Van Dijk is more than mature enough to take constructive criticism on the chin, but he was having none of Rooney’s ridiculous accusations about his leadership attributes and rightly challenged the former Everton striker on it.

The Dutchman embodies so much of what we want to see in a Liverpool captain both on and off the pitch, and he’s made it quite clear in recent days that when he feels wronged, he’ll go to war on it rather than meekly accepting it.