VIRGIL VAN DIJK said he does not know if he will be part of the new era at Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp’s exit.

The Reds captain is inside the final 18 months of his contract, as are star team-mates Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, with a lot of significant decisions to be made before the summer.

Van Dijk admits Liverpool’s hierarchy have a big job to replace Klopp and is “curious” to see the direction they go in, but does not believe uncertainty over the future will affect their ambitions this season.

“The club will have a big job on their hands, that is well known,” he said.

“To replace not only the manager but the whole staff and there are so many things that will change.

“I’m very curious which direction that will go in but when that will be announced we will see our situation.

“It will be the end of Jurgen Klopp’s era – I am still part of it that’s why I don’t like to talk about it – and that is my main focus.

“Hopefully we will have the success we all dream of and by then probably there will be more clarification about what the club wants for the future and then we will see.”

Asked whether he saw himself being part of the next era, Van Dijk added:

That’s a big question. I don’t know.”

However, any questions about how the players would respond to learning the news of Klopp’s departure at the end of the season were emphatically answered with a 5-2 victory over the Canaries at an emotional Anfield.

Bigger tests await this week with Chelsea visiting on Wednesday before they head to Arsenal next weekend but Van Dijk insists nothing will – or should – be different.

We are all human beings and we have emotions – some players feel different about the manager’s announcement than others.

“That’s absolutely normal because everyone thinks in different ways but I didn’t notice the professionalism being dropped or the level of standard. The training sessions I have seen in the last couple of days were not different than before.”