Virgil van Dijk is now training with his new Liverpool team-mates, after becoming the world’s most expensive defender at £75m.
The Dutchman completed his move from Southampton on January 1st and is contention for a debut against Everton in the FA Cup tomorrow evening.
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With the Coutinho nonsense threatening to derail a positive few weeks, we’d really like the 26-year-old to play – hopefully shutting out Sam Allardyce’s poor-footballing side in the process.
Liverpool’s key forward Roberto Firmino has taken time to laud van Dijk, praising his ability and telling fans he’d like to soon make friends with him!
“He’s a really, really good defender. It’s always really hard playing against him. It’s very hard, he marks very tightly and I just think he’s a really, really high-quality player,” Firmino told Liverpoolfc.com.
“I think in addition to the fact he’s very physical, it’s his presence. He’s tall, he’s very strong and that’s in addition to his innate ability.
“I just hope he helps us as much as possible. I think like everybody else who comes in, they add something to the group and I hope that he can also do that and bring something to the team himself.
“I’m really looking forward to playing alongside him, of course.
“Obviously it’s great that he’s joined our team and now that he’s come with us of course I’ll welcome him in with open arms and I’ll look to make friends with him.”
While we hope van Dijk can develop into our key defender, in many ways, Firmino is our key attacker.
The Brazilian’s energy, movement and linkup play sets the tone for the faster players like Mo Salah and Sadio Mane around him.
His friend Coutinho may be on his way, but Bobby’s going nowhere.