Virgil van Dijk shares bullying concern with Gary Neville ahead of crunch Liverpool and Man City clash

Earlier this season, Van Dijk was involved in a war of words with former Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, who had been strong with his criticism of Arne Slot's men.

There have been other examples of feuds between players and pundits, with United defender Lisandro Martinez recently calling out Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt after the pair made stinging remarks about him.

Van Dijk, speaking to Neville for Sky Sports, believes pundits have a 'duty of responsibility' and expressed a belief that, sometimes, criticism goes over the top.

"For me personally, I can deal with it, but I'm a bit worried for the next generation," said the Netherlands international.

"I feel like the ex-top players have a responsibility to the new generation.

"Criticism is absolutely normal and part of the game, and I think it should stay that way.

"But sometimes criticism also goes into being clickbait, saying things to provoke things, and without thinking about the repercussions for a mental side of players, and especially the younger generation, who are constantly on social media.

"You can say, 'yeah, you shouldn't be on social media' - that's what I've mentioned [to them] loads of times.

"There is always this thing of when you play a good game, younger players check all the positive praises, but when you have a worse game, and you're getting bullied all over social media, or you're getting bad criticism, it can really affect you.

"I've seen that in certain players in the past, and currently as well, because it's just not easy.

"It's going to get worse and worse, because the platforms nowadays, with the clickbait and the headlines, everyone is on it constantly.

"I feel like especially the ex-pros, top players, who have been through everything as well, they have this responsibility of protecting a little bit of that side as well. That's something maybe to look at."

Slot has found himself under pressure amid Liverpool's erratic form.

Van Dijk acknowledges that the Reds haven't been their usual selves, but insists inconsistency is a natural part of football.

The Liverpool captain continued: "Criticism for the season we are having is well-deserved because of the way we have been playing at times, the way we have been losing games on the bounce, that's not the standard we set, especially last year.

"But you have criticism and you have disrespect. I've got asked the question asked last week about do I think the disrespect is well-deserved, and I don't know, because I don't read it at all times.

"We are in a process of things, and it takes time. From what I know, Liverpool is not a club of making rash decisions and they trust the process.

"But I know how the world works. I know the pressure that managers are under, and they are held responsible and accountable for the results we are getting.

"I still feel that it's a process. In my eyes, he deserves the respect and the chance to make sure that this process is going to end in a positive way."

Liverpool's match with City kicks off at 4.30pm on Sunday.