Jurgen Klopp has revealed his pride at seeing Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award.
The £75million centre-back Virgil van Dijk PFA Player of the Year victory confirmed as defender achieves Liverpool first at London's Grovesnor House Hotel after pipping Manchester City star Raheem Sterling on Sunday night.
Van Dijk becomes the second successive Liverpool player to have his name on the honour roll after Mohamed Salah 12 months ago and the award is deserved recognition for a virtually flawless campaign at the heart of the Reds' defence.
The Holland captain has been the inspiration behind the best defensive record in the Premier League, with Van Dijk helping a miserly Reds keep 20 clean sheets so far this term.
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Incredibly, Liverpool could yet end the campaign with more clean sheets than goals conceded as they head into the final two games of the campaign against Newcastle and Wolves.
Van Dijk's award sees Liverpool win back-to-back gongs for the first time since Ian Rush collected the trophy in 1984, one year after Kenny Dalglish.
It's the first time a centre-back has won the award since John Terry for Chelsea back in 2005 and Reds boss Klopp was delighted to see the former Southampton star lift the trophy on Sunday evening.
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In a message that was beamed onto the big screens at the event, Klopp said: "I’m really proud it’s the second time in a row I can speak about a wonderful player who won the award for Player of the Season: Virgil van Dijk.
"Who would have thought that when he started back in Holland? I think not everybody saw immediately what kind of player hides in this giant body.
"But now the whole world is aware of that and I’m really happy I can be a little bit around that development.
"I would love to think it’s because of me! But obviously it’s not, he was already the player he is now when we bought him from Southampton.
"It all worked out. From the first moment I was so excited about the opportunity to work together and now you are the man – at least for this season!"
Van Dijk was one of four Reds players to be named in the PFA Team of the Year alongside Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson last week.
Virgil van Dijk PFA Player of the Year victory confirmed as defender achieves Liverpool first
Alexander-Arnold however missed out on the young players version of the award with Sterling edging out the Reds right-back on the night.
Liverpool return to action when they are hosted by Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night.
