Giovanni van Bronckhorst has been pictured alongside Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, in a jolly mood, during Rangers pre-season training camp.
Whilst the excellent Dutch central defender won’t be signing for Rangers this Summer or anytime soon for that matter, it is always good to see our manager having a good relationship with such high profile players, even though in this case it involves a former player at Parkhead.
Since his time in Glasgow, via Southampton, van Dijk has rightly established himself as one of the world’s best thanks to his individual and collective success at Anfield. He will also be keen to make an impression in Qatar later this year, at the 2022 World Cup.
As for the photo, you may be thinking how, where and why? The answer is simple.
Both Virgil van Dijk and Rangers are familiar with the facilities on offer in the Algarve region of Portugal.
They also crossed paths at the same camp three years ago.
This image was made for a caption competition 😆
van Dijk also used the same Portuguese facilities as Rangers in 2019 pre-season. pic.twitter.com/ztHeFhYkeY
— Graeme Hanna (@graeme818) July 5, 2022
The Premier League and Champions League winner will soon return to Jurgen Klopp’s squad for the next stage in their preparation ahead of further excursions and games in Thailand, Singapore, Germany and Austria, prior to the new season in England.
Rangers will be going through the gears this week, with several key players due to join their teammates, ahead of the game against Sunderland on Saturday evening.
That fixture, to be played in front of fans, will bring down the curtain on what will hopefully be the base for a successful season to follow. In the short term, the Gers main tests will come against West Ham and Spurs at Ibrox over the next couple of weeks.