Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says he is inspired by the achievements of basketball legend LeBron James.

Van Dijk and James, who is a minority shareholder in Liverpool’s owner Fenway Sports Group, recently joined forces for the launch of a new fashion range, LFC x LeBron, and have been exchanging messages indirectly.

But it is the LA Lakers star’s sporting philosophy that is helping to fuel Van Dijk. James, 39, has the motto ‘strive for greatness’ and the Dutch defender is using it in Liverpool’s pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple of major trophies this season.

“That phrase he uses is perfect,” says Van Dijk. “I definitely try to follow that because I want to achieve the most I can in life and get the maximum out of myself, the team and the position we are in.

“We are in a good place to do that this season. There are no guarantees, but we feel like it is quite special with the way we have overcome things as a group, situations like the news of the manager (leaving), at the start of the season all the red cards, how we dealt with the injuries and we cannot forget the young boys. It has been a special season so far and now we have to see how it ends.

“I saw the billboard this week (of him and James) and it is amazing. I like basketball. I look at all the top athletes at the highest level because I feel like they are role models for their team and community and there are so many things you can learn.

“The way they conduct themselves on the pitch or on court, also what they do in order to be great. There is LeBron, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Tom Brady — I could name so many. I like to listen to these guys and learn how they dealt with being at the top — dealing with difficult moments but also good moments.”

LeBron James at Anfield in 2011

Van Dijk has put himself into contention for the PFA player of the year award with his outstanding performances so far this season and the 32-year-old believes he is reaping the benefits of having the best possible support team around him.

“When you are young, you don’t really realise what goes on before the games and after the games in order to be ready and at your absolute best during the game,” he explains.

“The treatment you do before or nutrition or recovery is key — listening to your body and managing yourself, you cannot put a price on that.

“I really enjoy that side of it. You sacrifice a lot, but the rewards are massive. You hope you have a long career, but there are so many things that can happen that you don’t have control over, so we have to make the most of it.

“Since I was at Southampton, I started to pay a lot more attention to having my own little team around me. That obviously made my life, my body, my performance a lot better than it was. That hard work that nobody sees is the key to success.”

Pressed on the attention to detail, Van Dijk added: “I have my own physio and my own chef and those two parts are very important. I do my recovery stuff so I can be optimally prepared for the next challenge.

“When you are having three games a week and travel a lot, I will come home and have treatment immediately from my personal physio until the middle of the night.

“We do a little bit of aqua work and make sure we eat the right stuff to be ready for a good recovery day. It is a lot of dedication. I could never complain because I am doing in my eyes the best job there is.”

Van Dijk hasn’t made many mistakes this season, but he believes he made one in the dressing room after last month’s Carabao Cup triumph over Chelsea. With a winners’ medal around his neck, he looked at the camera and said: “They thought I was finished,” a reference to the criticism he received during Liverpool’s struggles last season.

Van Dijk has been in imperious form this season

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he insists ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final with Manchester United.

Why?

“Because I don’t want to have the wrong intentions. That was part of the emotion coming out of me because there were so many emotions going through my whole body that day.

“Last season was disappointing. I was just below my standards and the consistency wasn’t there that I have had and set for myself in each and every game.

“I fully understand the noise that came with it, but I am a human being and not immune to any of that, so there was a bit of emotion that day, but I shouldn’t have said that.

“Maybe in one way it was good to say because it gets it out of me, but I don’t like noise around me. I like to play the game. The break helped massively last summer and that brought me into good shape.”

From the outside looking in, taking on the captaincy appears to have added something to Van Dijk, who has delivered a succession of imposing, dominant displays.

He said: “Confidence is a big driver when you play the game, but I also think I have made big steps in possession.

“The manager said the other day that it is not just as simple as wearing the armband and I think there are a lot of things that just clicked again.

“I feel really good and the responsibility I have has helped that. I feel that I have made steps again. Steps in possession, steps in the way I defend. I really enjoy that and I want to continue enjoying it and see what it leads to.”