Paul Ince: Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk should win the Ballon d’Or award

The way Liverpool are performing at the moment is exceptional. Even last season, they pushed Manchester City so close – only losing just once. They’ve got 100 per cent record this campaign.

This is their moment and I really believe this time they could do it.

Man United won’t be challenging for the title for the next two or three years at least and I think Liverpool will win the title before them.

I can also see Klopp moving on in a few years’ time, but at the moment he’s got the team, he’s got the players and he’s got the character. That’s everything he needs to win the title and he’s got all that now, so this could be their moment.

Big Virgil for the Ballon d’Or

The thing is about the Ballon d’Or is that we always go with the same people. It’s either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo winning it, isn’t it really?

But there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be a defender. Virgil Van Dijk has been exceptional this year, but I also thought Raheem Sterling should be up for it.

It’s a tough one because Man City still won three trophies, while Liverpool only got one in the Champions League, and yet Sterling’s not even mentioned as a potential winner.

That baffles me. It really, really does.

It would make a nice change for Virgil van Dijk to win the award rather than just being Messi and Ronaldo all the time. I don’t believe Ronaldo’s been overly great anyway.

But, the great players are the ones who score goals and that’s why people always say Messi or Ronaldo.

I know Luka Modrić won it last year, but I think what Van Dijk’s done with Liverpool has been phenomenal.

The way he took them forward as a team and compete with City like they are, so I’d give it to him.

I’m a Klopp man

I would have liked to have played for both Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, but if I had a gun to my head it would be Klopp.

When I look at the way Klopp acts on the line, he’s running up and down and he’s shouting at his players. I like that type of manager, because I had that with Sir Alex Ferguson.

Klopp is very similar to Sir Alex in that way. He looks like he’s very close to his players too.

Not that Pep is not tight with side. They’ve just got such different ways of doing it.

Pep’s more about the tactical side of things, but I’d get more out of Jurgen’s approach as a player.