Jurgen Klopp has admitted that £75m is an enormous amount of money for Virgil van Dijk, but has accepted that it’s merely the state of the modern game.
A few days ago, Liverpool confirmed the mammoth deal which makes the Dutchman the most expensive defender in the history of the game, eclipsing Manchester City’s deal for Kyle Walker in the summer.
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Klopp knows that the van Dijk fee increased pressure on the player, urging the fanbase to ignore the price when analysing the centre-back’s contributions.
“What can I say?” Klopp told the Guardian. “Virgil has a long contract at Southampton. That is how it is. It started a few years ago. If you do not want to do it, do not do it. We had an opportunity to do it and that is why he will be an LFC player. Do I like it? No, because it puts more pressure on everything.
“That is why I said as a Liverpool community we have to ignore it [the price] immediately. He is a player for us, he can improve and he needs to adapt. There are so many things he still needs to work on. He developed a lot in the last few years, made big steps, so it is a good thing.”
Liverpool beat Leicester yesterday, but conceded a very sloppy goal following a Joel Matip error earlier in the game.
His centre-back partner for the day, Dejan Lovren, has never instilled confidence, despite playing many good games, as he’s capable of throwing in those nightmarish performances which directly cost points.
As a result, one of these will make way for the £75m man, although we’re not yet sure who…
There’s a possibility that a leader like van Dijk will significantly boost either the Croat or the Cameroonian, although there’s also the possibility that Joe Gomez could stake a claim, having been used as right-back throughout this term.