Van Dijk will collect the trophy and begin another special round of celebration when Crystal Palace visit Anfield next Sunday – Liverpool’s first league lift with fans present since 1990.
Speaking to Men in Blazers, the captain was asked if he would identify one single difference that catapulted the Reds to the title after Slot took over from Jürgen Klopp.
“I can’t put it on one single thing, to be absolutely honest with you,” he replied. “Obviously we all know the club had to replace a manager that was obviously such an influence on the success that we had throughout all those years.
“Not only on the team, I mean, just in terms of the club and the city. He meant so much for all of us. And to replace him was always going to be a big task but I think when the new manager came in, he took it with stride.
“He did it together with his staff and it has been an incredible year so far. Even without the proper pre-season, to perform and the way we worked and the small tweaks that we had in terms of in games.
“And the way he handled himself as well on and off the pitch, it all contributed to the success that we’ve had. I’m very happy for him and his staff, the guys that you don’t see that much on TV maybe but they put all the hard work in as well. The manager also credits them a lot because that’s how it is.
“I wouldn’t say I’m ‘surprised’ about the amount of games that we’ve won because I’ve seen the quality that we have in the team, I’ve seen what we did last year – unfortunately we came short. But it’s still an incredible and amazing achievement that we managed to do this in the way we did it this year.”
Van Dijk continued: “I’m unbelievably proud and unbelievably happy – not only for myself but for all the players, for the manager, for everyone connected to the club – that we won the Premier League this year and in the manner we did as well.
“We’re going to celebrate [like] crazy and then when pre-season starts again next year then we’ll start from scratch and we’ll go and fight our socks off again hoping to be up there again.”
Klopp and Slot completed a perfect circle with hugely generous gestures inside Anfield within the space of 12 months.
At the former’s final match in charge last May, he highlighted his farewell speech to Kopites by chanting the name of the man set to replace him.
When Slot took the microphone to speak to supporters following the win over Spurs that sealed the title, he returned the favour by singing the tune with Klopp’s name.
