Virgil van Dijk admits new Liverpool defenders are 'good players' but will need time

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/konate-ibrahima/QJlbDbQe/"]Ibrahima Konate[/a] ‌and Andy Robertson's departures, as well as ‌Joe Gomez's muscle injury in the club's ‌opening pre-season match, have forced [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/liverpool/lId4TMwf/"]Liverpool[/a] to ‌rebuild their defence.[/p][p]The Merseyside club strengthened their options by signing Uruguay international [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/araujo-ronald/M3sbJix9/"]Ronald Araujo[/a] on ‌a season-long loan from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/barcelona/SKbpVP5K/"]Barcelona[/a], while ⁠Frenchman [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jacquet-jeremy/h0WK6DL4/"]Jeremy Jacquet[/a] ‌joined the club in the summer after being ​signed in February.[/p][embed guid="27232f64-fe70-48ea-88b8-18049e397150" url="https://x.com/bbcmerseysport/status/2089366643273355652" social-type="twitter" /][p]Araujo and Jacquet both featured in a 2-0 friendly victory ​over Italian club Como at Anfield on Sunday, with the latter also scoring a ⁠goal.[/p][p]Asked how he ​could forge strong partnerships with his new teammates, veteran Van Dijk told reporters: "By playing games. I won't say it's the only ‌way, but games are totally different than training.[/p][p][b]"Obviously, Jeremy's English is, I would say, a bit better than Ronald, but at the end of the day, we all pretty good footballers and we can see and smell some moments, how to defend certain situations.[/b][/p][p]"It's pretty clear that you need ‌to form a connection together and take ​a bit of time. But it's, ‌in my opinion, absolutely normal. But hopefully, we can get that going as quickly as possible."[/p][p]Liverpool, who finished fifth last season, will start their Premier League season ⁠at Newcastle ⁠United on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/liverpool-lId4TMwf/newcastle-p6ahwuwJ/?mid=4xKntFxe"]August ‌23[/a].[/p]