Liverpool hero Bruce Grobbelaar says Virgil van Dijk is Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson "rolled into one".

Grobbelaar won six titles as the club dominated English football in the Eighties, as well as three FA Cups and a European Cup.

He told the Mirror: “Now with Van Dijk, you have a cool head like a Hansen but he's that quick like Lawrenson — he is both rolled into one.

“But what he does with his other centre-halves and other defenders is make them much better, and that's the quality of Virgil van Dijk.

“Whoever plays next to him is going to get better. Look at the two full-backs, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

“They have gone up in their abilities and their prices have skyrocketed because he controls and makes them better.

“As a goalkeeper, playing behind a player like that is brilliant."