'Blatantly obvious' - Rangers legend not surprised by Virgil van Dijk's Liverpool admission

Former Rangers and Scotland striker Ally McCoist believes it's 'only natural' some Liverpool players may be considering their next move in the aftermath of Jurgen Klopp's decision to end his Anfield reign.

There were shockwaves sent around the world of football on Friday when the former Borussia Dortmund boss revealed he will step down from his role at the end of the season and bring down the curtain on what has been a memorable nine-year spell in charge of the Reds.

After replacing Brendan Rodgers in October 2015, Klopp has written his name into Anfield folklore by leading the club to their Champions League Final win against Spurs in 2019 before ending the Reds' long wait for a Premier League title 12 months later. The German has also led the club to single wins in the FA Cup Final, Carabao Cup Final, FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA World Club Cup.

However, after revealing he was 'running out of energy' in his attempts to lead the club to further success, Klopp confirmed he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season on Friday and received an emotional response from the Anfield faithful before, during and after Sunday's FA Cup fourth round win against Norwich City.

Little is known of what impact the decision has made on the Liverpool squad - although captain Virgil van Dijk did hint he was unsure what could lie ahead once Klopp's reign had been officially brought to an end during the summer.

McCoist stressed that there should be no surprise over the former Celtic and Southampton defender's comments and believes it's only natural if some current Reds stars are waiting to see who will be named as Klopp's successor before making firm decisions over their own futures.

“He’s (Van Dijk) only telling the truth, let’s be honest, of course he should be saying things like that,” McCoist told talkSPORT.

“Anybody could see that and it’s a big question because you’re losing the head of the club, the talisman of the club who has been without doubt the most influential and incredible character that the club’s had in the last decade or so. So, I think it’s blatantly obvious that there will be other changes within the club.  For example, the first thing you do when a new manager comes in, you might not necessarily like all the players that the previous manager has been picking, so that’s a natural thing for him to make changes and bring in one of two players that he would like to do.

“So I said earlier, Virgil van Dijk, absolutely wonderful player, wonderful defender is now 32. It would make sense that he’s certainly coming to the end of his time at Liverpool. It might not be next year, it might not be the year after, but time would tell you that no man goes on forever. I just think that he’s effectively stating the obvious.”