Georginio Wijnaldum says the success of Liverpool teammate Virgil van Dijk came as no surprise.

Van Dijk was named Player of the Year last week by UEFA.

“No, I was not surprised, I had expected it frankly. And I think he also takes that other prize (FIFA's World Footballer of the Year). Virgil has played a great season, won prizes. It doesn't surprise me so much," Wijnaldum told AD.

"Before he came to Liverpool, trainer Jürgen Klopp asked me if I would like to talk about a player. That turned out to be Van Dijk. I had known him for a while, Jeffrey Bruma is a mutual friend, and I thought he'd been a very good player for some time.

"He would immediately improve our defence."