In the next few days, Van Dyke wanted to stick to Mo Yang like a pendant.
He trains with Mo Yang every morning, and then goes to the training base with Mo Yang, sticking to Mo Yang all the time.
With Mo Yang's help, Van Dijk integrated into the team very quickly.
In just a few days, he successfully integrated into the main player circle centered on Mo Yang, and became friends with Salah and others.
Van Dijk would express his gratitude to Mo Yang from time to time, thanking Mo Yang for helping him integrate into the team.
But in fact, in Mo Yang's view, Van Dyke gained everyone's recognition because of his strong strength.
Van Dijk's defense is really strong, and he often makes Salahmane and others lose their temper.
For this reason, Salah gave Van Dijk's defense a nickname, "Ice Defense"
This means that Van Dijk is like an ice cube when defending, giving people the impression of being terrifyingly calm, as if he can always make the most correct choice.
Even if he doesn't attack when defending, he can still make it difficult for forwards like Salah to find space to break through and escape, and the pressure is very high.
And as long as you see him attacking, it means that Van Dijk is absolutely sure that he can steal the ball. Basically, he will be able to keep the ball when he attacks.
Midfielder and frontcourt players like Moyang and Salah are very happy with the arrival of Van Dijk.
Because having such a strong central defender means that the defense will become stable and they will be completely free when attacking.
Lovren, Matip and others who competed with Van Dijk were a little worried at first, but later accepted their fate.
Van Dijk's strong performance and his worth of 75 million pounds determine that he is destined not to be a substitute and will definitely occupy a spot in the starting central defender.
Strength determines status, and they cannot accept it.
…
On January 8th, the third round of the FA Cup begins.
Liverpool plays Plymouth at home.
In this game, Mo Yang, Henderson, Salah and others were not even included in the squad.
Facing such a League Two team, all Liverpool players felt that they would definitely win, including the majority of Red Army fans and media.
But the result of the game gave Liverpool a blow.
Liverpool lost!
They actually lost to Plymouth from English League Two at Anfield with a score of 0-1, which was a huge upset.
So much so that Liverpool's FA Cup journey ended in an instant just as it began.
Mo Yang, Henderson, Salah and others also came to watch the game.
After watching the whole game, Mo Yang felt that they underestimated their opponents.
Including Klopp, he also looked down upon this team from League Two.
At the post-match media conference, Klopp turned the conference into a self-examination meeting and directly apologized to the fans.
So the next day the media criticized Liverpool's players in this game overwhelmingly, and Klopp did not escape.
The media was furious, but Liverpool's own fans were indifferent and seemed not very angry about their team being eliminated from the FA Cup.
On the contrary, many Liverpool fans publicly threatened on social platforms that if they lose, they will lose. It is just an FA Cup. What a big deal. The words are full of contempt and disdain for the FA Cup.
In fact, this is indeed the case. Liverpool fans really don't think much of the FA Cup champion.
It's not like I haven't won it before, especially with the bright prospect of winning the Premier League title this season.
Therefore, the real mentality of many Liverpool fans is that they hope that the team can quickly get rid of the burden of other cup competitions, concentrate on the league, and first win the Premier League championship that they have been waiting for more than 20 years.
Some weird fans even left messages directly on Klopp's INS and Liverpool's official website, asking Klopp and the club to give up the EFL Cup, saying that we only want the Europa League and Premier League titles.
This made Klopp dumbfounded. He had never seen such a weird fan asking the team to give up other cup competitions.
But Klopp can also understand the mentality of these fans, because Liverpool really needs a Premier League championship to prove itself.
Liverpool is a wealthy club, not the pseudo-rich club that the media calls it that has never even won the Premier League title.
…
On January 12, Liverpool faced Southampton, their EFL Cup semi-final opponent, at Anfield Stadium.
Liverpool's main force was at full strength in this game.
Because Van Dijk joined the team too short ago and has not yet fully integrated into the team's tactical system, it is no surprise that he was not even included in the game squad.
Mo Yang and the others thought that this game would be as difficult as last time.
Unexpectedly, Southampton, who lost Van Dijk, performed completely differently on the defensive end than last time.
In the 12th minute of the game, Mo Yang passed the ball to the Southampton penalty area at a 45-degree angle from the left side of the penalty area.
If Van Dijk, who has aerial dominance, is present in this ball, there will be no threat at all.
But now, not only did the Southampton players jump directly to the top, but there was also a leak in the back-marking. Salah, who was outflanking the back-post, picked up a big leak and kicked the ball into the goal.
Then in the 29th minute of the game, Arnold took the ball along the wing to the center line, and suddenly started to pass the ball low and long.
The ball was passed with great accuracy, hitting the right rib of Southampton's penalty area directly.
After receiving the ball, Salah broke into the penalty area, suddenly spiked the ball in a different direction, and then shot into the far corner with his left foot, extending the score to 2-0.
In the end, Liverpool easily won the first leg against Southampton with a score of 3-0.
Although Mo Yang only has one offense, his contributions on offense and defense are beyond reproach.
Throughout the game, Mo Yang successfully intercepted 5 Southampton attacks, planned 8 direct attacks, and scored 2 goals.
At 12 noon the next day, Liverpool’s official website suddenly announced a big news.
Claimed to have completed contract renewal with Mo Yang.
Mo Yang's new contract is a weekly salary of 250,000 pounds and a termination bonus of 200 million pounds.
The length of the contract has also been increased from the original 4 years to 6 years, and there is also a clause in the contract that prohibits transfer within two seasons.
Liverpool fans were overjoyed when they found out and left messages on Liverpool's official website praising Edwards for what he did beautifully.
Previously, they were really worried that Mo Yang would be poached.
After all, Mo Yang's gorgeous playing style seems to be more suitable for La Liga.
Although Liverpool is also a wealthy club, in terms of appeal, it is still inferior to La Liga's Galacticos Real Madrid and Cosmos Barcelona.
Now that it's fine, and the contract has been renewed for 6 years, they are completely relieved.
As for Mo Yang, after he signed the new contract, he received another two million pounds in signing fees. I really can't believe that this extremely generous new contract was actually negotiated by Pere.
Looking at Pere driving, Mo Yang was really impressed by this guy's negotiating ability, and he really won the deal.
Although six years is a long time and the release fee of 200 million is high, if there are no other changes, he is willing to stay at Liverpool.
We have the best head coach and the best teammates here. He has no reason to leave and he doesn’t want to leave.
"Mr. 200 million, what do you think?" Perret teased as he looked at Mo Yang in the co-pilot, who seemed to have never recovered.
In fact, Perret is not very satisfied with this new contract.
If Liverpool hadn't agreed to add an invisible clause in the contract that if Mo Yang wanted to leave after two seasons, Liverpool could not block Mo Yang for any reason, he would not have agreed.
Because he is afraid that Liverpool in three years' time may not be able to afford Mo Yang's annual salary.
When the news of Mo Yang's contract extension spread back to China, many people's jaws suddenly dropped.
With a weekly salary of 250,000 pounds and a termination fee of 200 million, this means that Mo Yang has successfully become one of the top stars.
In the five major leagues, there are really not many stars who can earn this level of salary.