利物浦英雄范戴克被认为比韦格霍斯特更出色，有望在世界杯上扮演令人意想不到的角色。

Virgil van Dijk is a much better extra striker than Wout Weghorst – he’ll be the Netherlands’ secret weapon to avoid World Cup defeats.

That is the opinion of Dutch football expert Marcel van der Kraan, who revealed the Liverpool star has been ‘absolutely instrumental.’

Van Dijk’s nine goals for club and country this season are the same amount Weghorst managedAFP

The Reds captain is hoping to skipper his nation to a first-ever World Cup win in what will likely be his last appearance at the tournament.

Van Dijk, who turns 35 the day before the quarter-finals start, would be in line to win his 100th cap if the Netherlands reach the final.

Poignantly, his manager, Ronald Koeman, earned his last cap for the Oranje as a player with a World Cup loss in the United States in 1994.

That team was spearheaded by Arsenal icon Dennis Bergkamp, with the current crop lacking any attackers of a similar world-class level.

Koeman hasn’t been helped by injuries to key personnel, with Xavi Simons, Matthijs de Ligt, and Jurrien Timber all out of the World Cup.

Netherlands World Cup preview

Discussing his country’s 26-man squad, Van der Kraan told The Warm Up with Max Rushden and Charlie Baker: “Ronald Koeman, the coach, his experience now, he’s been in a job for quite a few years now with Holland.

“He has hammered on that, it’s the team, the best team and not always the most skilful individual players, which Holland always had, the greatest strikers.

“We’re built on a defence for a start, all our star players are more in the defence than in the attack, and Koeman has actually left a favourite of the Dutch, not just out of the team, but out of the squad.

“Joey Veerman was described as not quite having the right character to be in that squad, and he’s a PSV Eindhoven playmaker, great passer of the ball.

Koeman has been sweating on the fitness of a number of his key starsAFP

“You remember [former Manchester United player] Arnold Muhren in England,” Van der Kraan continued on talkSPORT.

“Arnold Muhren is one of the biggest fans of Joey Veerman, and he had a great season, steered PSV Eindhoven to the Championship, and Koeman says no, I’m not selecting him, he’s not in my 26, and nobody could believe it.

“But this is where it comes to the point where Koeman thinks, okay, I’ve got my starting 11, and then I’ve got the other 14, 15 these days.

“All of them need to give energy, and I can’t have a player who will sit there with a long face [and] create havoc in the team because that’s happened before in the Dutch team when players [have] not played.

“And this is where he thinks the answer should be.”

Van Dijk ‘a better striker than Weghorst’

Netherlands’ all-time top goalscorer Memphis Depay is expected to front Koeman’s attack for their World Cup opener against Japan.

Weghorst is once again tasked with playing a supporting role for Depay at the World CupAFP It was a tactical set-up that paid off and then some in QatarGetty

However, the 32-year-old has been nursing a thigh injury sustained on club duty with Corinthians and won’t be able to play the full match.

His deputies for the World Cup include Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey, who scored seven Premier League goals for the Black Cats.

And ex-Man United loanee Weghorst, who was memorably used as Koeman’s target-man Plan B four years ago in Qatar to great effect, scoring twice from the bench in the Netherlands’ defeat on penalties to eventual champions Argentina in the last-eight.

But Van der Kraan argued that this tournament, his country would be better served sending defender Van Dijk up top as a second striker.

“The memory of the Argentina quarter-final in the last World Cup, we had that crazy free kick, and it all turned upside down,” he added.

“He fell out with [Lionel] Messi, shouted and absolutely abused him in the corridors after the game.

“Wout does turn it on, yes indeed – Brobbey is a difficult one again for the Dutch fans because when he was at Ajax, he never scored a goal or maybe one or two.

“And then when we saw him go to England, everybody thought, well, Premier League, Sunderland, Sunderland will play relegation football.

Van Dijk is the defender with the most goals in the Premier League for LiverpoolGetty

Van Dijk stats vs Netherlands' second strikers

Virgil van Dijk

League goals this season: 6

Champions League goals this season: 2

Netherlands goals total: 12

Wout Weghorst

League goals this season: 8

Champions League goals this season: 1

Netherlands goals total: 14

Brian Brobbey

League goals this season: 7

Netherlands goals total: 1

“Brobbey has not managed to do it in the Eredivisie, which is like a Mickey Mouse league in the eyes of many.

“And then he turns it on at Sunderland in the Premier League against great defenders, and it was an absolute joy to watch.

“So yes, there are big names, there are good names in that Dutch squad, and if they can get it together, if we can get Virgil van Dijk back to his best, lead the defence and be that leader in the field, and Brobbey brings it on and Wout Weghorst.

“And to come back to your suggestion of bringing Wout Weghorst on, I wouldn’t be surprised if we do get behind and we see Virgil van Dijk going up front as the second striker because he has been absolutely instrumental for Ronald Koeman.

“And Koeman says, look, the amount of goals he gets with his head and the power and the physique.

“We have guys like Mickey van der Ven who can play one-on-one at the back when it comes to it, and Virgil van Dijk, in my opinion, is a much better extra striker than Wout Weghorst.”