Having been handed the captain's armband to become the official skipper of this bold new era, Liverpool are clearly planning for the long term where Virgil van Dijk is concerned.
The centre-back has established a reputation as one of the greatest defenders arguably ever on Merseyside since joining in January 2018 to become the bedrock upon which so much success was built in the last five years.
Van Dijk's £75m arrival from Southampton was the catalyst that changed Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool from pretenders to contenders to a team who won every top-level trophy available between the years of 2019 and 2022 and they will speak about him favourably alongside any of the great centre-halves who went before him for the Reds. That legacy is secure.
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But the contract that was presented in front of him in the summer of 2022 was something of a leap of faith and a show of trust from the club as Van Dijk penned new terms around the same time he was coming back from a long-term and career threatening injury.
There was no proof he would return the same player and even when he starred for a team who ended the following term as FA Cup and Carabao Cup winners alongside 92 Premier League points and a Champions League runners-up medal, there have still been question marks from some sections.
There's been a strange determination in certain circles to tear down the unflappable Dutchman since he came back from that ACL problem over two years ago with every defensive phase of play analysed to the nth degree at times with a focus on Van Dijk's fallibility.
The desperation to portray him as someone who is no longer the same player after that injury has been too forced and obvious at times. Even if there is a credible school of thought that says Van Dijk was not at those previous levels during last season's fifth-place finish, Liverpool's darkest days generally came when he was out of the team with a hamstring injury at the turn of the year.
After going off midway through the defeat to Brentford, Van Dijk missed the damaging defeats to Wolves and Brighton before his mid-February comeback coincided with five successive clean sheets in the Premier League as Liverpool beat the likes of Everton, Manchester United and Newcastle before eventually ending their campaign with an 11-game unbeaten run, of which he played nine.
With a more functioning midfield in front of him this time out, it is no surprise Van Dijk has started to earn rave reviews once more. The newly-appointed skipper has been a powerhouse at the back so far, turning in the kind of performances that have started to become noticed once more outside of Liverpool circles.
The data backs up that theory too with the Reds skipper in the 99 percentile in the Premier League for his aerial wins percentage and 100 in the take-ons department, according to figures by the respected Statsbomb. That latter statistic would suggest that the famous 'aura' is firmly back in his possession but while Van Dijk's defensive numbers are generally impressive, it is his passing that truly stands out.
The Netherlands captain is up to 94% for passes attempted and completed and as high as the 99 percentile for progressive passes over distance. The shorter exchanges are at 91 and the 'medium' length switches of possession are between 93 and 96%.
They are figures that not only indicate Van Dijk is nearing his best from a defensive point of view but also reveal his ongoing importance to the overall system, particularly with those trademark long, diagonal passes to Mohamed Salah and co.
At 32, however, there will certainly be an acknowledgement that Van Dijk cannot go on forever and with a little over 18 months left on that contract he signed in 2022, a decision may soon be looming large for the key decision-makers at Anfield, in the same way it will with Mohamed Salah, whose own terms expire in that same summer.
The key metrics are indicating that Van Dijk's displays have been impeccable this season and with the midfield department not yet completely rebuilt, the Reds' No.4 is only likely to become even stronger once a natural and top-class holding midfielder is recruited in front of him.
A decision on Van Dijk's next Anfield contract may not necessarily be coming into focus just yet but the early season form is enough to encourage those who believe he can continue at optimal levels for some time yet.
