Virgil van Dijk excited by new Liverpool signings and backs Ekitike to keep scoring | OneFootball

Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk has backed Hugo Ekitike to build on his impressive start to life at the club.

The Reds lost the Community Shield final 3-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw but Ekitike scored his first goal for the Reds following his big money move from Eintracht Frankfurt.

“It’s never easy to come from a different country, and I think he’s settled in pretty well and with his goal, obviously it was good to see,” he said.

“The goal was important and hopefully there will be many more to come.”

Fellow summer signing Jeremie Frimpong also scored in the defeat, while record signing Florian Wirtz set up Ekitike for his side’s first.

And along with Milos Kerkez, van Dijk says he is looking forward to seeing more from Liverpool’s new boys.

“Very happy. I think last year we had to trust the club, the board and the people to make the right decisions in order to help the club to even improve in all positions,” he said.

“Even with the season that we had last year, I think that signing new players is a good sign, and I think they have been doing pretty well.”

Liverpool won the Premier League by 10 points last season but Van Dijk belives that they have to improve if they are to win the league again.

“There are a couple of things that we have to improve as a team if we want to retain the title, it will be obviously a very big job in itself.

“So we have a recovery day tomorrow, and then we fully focus on one of what will be a very tough game against Bournemouth.

“But I’m really looking forward to the start of the Premier League on Friday, at home with our fans. We know it’s going to be emotional, obviously, with everything that’s going on, but yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.”