great signing for Liverpool, fee is a bit more then i thought they would have to pay but after the 3-3 draw with Arsenal Southampton where able to name there price as pool were desperate. before his injury he was one of the best CB's in the premiership. would expect it to be next season before pool see the best of him as he's basically not played in a year. Still with Mignolet in goals, you could have a back 4 of Thuram Nesta Cannavaro Maldini and still struggle
Virgil van Dijk | OFFICIAL: Liverpool agree £75m fee (£70m upfront) with Southampton
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This transfer seems to have aged him a year - he's 26 not 27
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Neymar effect. 75 million is the new 30 milion now. Decent fee.
Lukaku should be 30-45 mil max couple of years ago, but hey as football goes into billions of profit, this is only natural.
Van Dijk is a great signing, I don't see what's wrong with that fee. Maybe because it's the dippers.
But Gary Neville always mentioned that it's not the players fault, it's Klopp tactics when defending. Interesting how this will turns out.
Now if they sign an elite goalkeeper..things will be different for them.
Granted if, Klopp improves his defending tactics too.
But as a United fan, I know that won't happen!
Lukaku should be 30-45 mil max couple of years ago, but hey as football goes into billions of profit, this is only natural.
Van Dijk is a great signing, I don't see what's wrong with that fee. Maybe because it's the dippers.
But Gary Neville always mentioned that it's not the players fault, it's Klopp tactics when defending. Interesting how this will turns out.
Now if they sign an elite goalkeeper..things will be different for them.
Granted if, Klopp improves his defending tactics too.
But as a United fan, I know that won't happen!
You just described Harry Maguire, who was available for ~£15m last summer. It's absurd that Klopp feels van Dijk - and van Dijk only - will solve Liverpool's defensive frailties.
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Yes, because you overpaid by about £45 million.
Klopp also, in his infinite wisdom, chose to write off six months of a season to wait for van Dijk (and a full season to wait for Keita) and Liverpool fans still try to convince themselves that it's been a great transfer strategy. It's absolutely mental.
Honestly dont see what all the fuss is about. Hes a decent but not brilliant defender.
Crazy fee, but he will improve them, to what margin remains to be seen though. Sign a decent goalkeeper and they could be challenging next year (yes, yes, next year is their year and all that)
Good signing, will improve them.
He still has to play with one of Lovren, Klaven or Matip though, none of them are excellent. and the keeper is still abysmal.
He hasn't played in a year and stunk the place up with saints, so as soon as things don't go his way expect the same.
Coutinho will be gone, that's a matter of time. So its not all rosey for Liverpool. VVD will help. but he wont solve the fact Klopp cannot for the life of him manage a team that can defend properly
He still has to play with one of Lovren, Klaven or Matip though, none of them are excellent. and the keeper is still abysmal.
He hasn't played in a year and stunk the place up with saints, so as soon as things don't go his way expect the same.
Coutinho will be gone, that's a matter of time. So its not all rosey for Liverpool. VVD will help. but he wont solve the fact Klopp cannot for the life of him manage a team that can defend properly
I don't think Rio was quite world class when you bought him, he was getting there
It is not like Klopp has never produced a good CB or made every CB look shit. Lovren and Klavan are not on the required level. Hummels and Subotic made huge steps under Klopp. If you have talent, you can shine, even as a CB. Lovren was known to be a clown from Lyon already and Klavan is Klavan. Some overestimate Liverpool‘ s defensive setup, just like at City, the unit is more important than the individual
Daft fee. But this transfer was always going to happen one way or another and Southampton must be rubbing their hands in glee at the fee considering they pretty much have been playing without Van Dijk all season.
Hate to say it but this is a very good signing for Liverpool and with Keita coming in next summer (still wouldnt be surprised to see him earlier next month) it is more than a little unsettling that their first team is now looking a hell of a lot more solid.
Hate to say it but this is a very good signing for Liverpool and with Keita coming in next summer (still wouldnt be surprised to see him earlier next month) it is more than a little unsettling that their first team is now looking a hell of a lot more solid.
Lovren looked good in Southampton's system too
That is mental. Can't imagine another team in the league allowing one club to come and hoover up their best players like that. Southampton really are happy to just keep developing players and selling them on for huge fees, doesn't seem to be any real ambition there at all. He's a good player and will probably improve them, but my word £75 million is an insane fee.
Not sure how signing a defender is going to improve them all that much. He wouldn't have helped much in that Arsenal game as the whole team was all over the place. Similar in the games against Spurs and City.
I guess it does mean not having to play Lovren, but it wont suddenly make them a good defensive team.
I guess it does mean not having to play Lovren, but it wont suddenly make them a good defensive team.
Didn't you know add ons only apply to our players.
He was better than Van Dijk was at his age in my opinion.
It is no point talking about Rio and van Dijk, since one of them was a world class defender and the other one is not even close.
I guess we can all expect Klopp's retirement in the very near future then:
Fair fecks to them for getting their man. 75m is too much but that’s the way things have gone in football, they wanted him, they paid what they needed to get him but Southampton should be fecking embarrassed with themselves, they’ve become Liverpool’s feeder club and I feel for their fans.
Why? He's barely played this season anyway and when he has he's been distinctly average.
If anything, it strengthens Southampton because they can sign the striker they desperately lack. Edit: obvs talking about the remainder of the season here, not our game on Saturday.
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Anyone think 300m is enough when you have to send 70m for a 'good' defender? If anyone now wants a world class defender, the price will be min 120m. I've said it before, looking good in a Saints shirt is very different than a Liverpool one where he's now the saviour of their defensive woes. Every mistake will be forensically looked at. No pressure then......
Why didn't Liverpool just pay what Southampton wanted in the summer? Now they have waited six months and paid the fee they refused to do six months ago... I don't see how this can be dressed up as good management... It reminds me of Moyes with Fellaini.
Mcguire is someone I rate very highly but now is not the time for us to be taking punts on up and comers especially with all of our defensive issues and the pressure from fans on the club as Klopp has spent basically nothing on the defence..
If we signed Mcguire we would not be making a statement signing, and we most likely would have got ridiculed
That's true, I've seen a lot of people compare Ferdinand with Van Dijk since last night.
It’s hardly a written off half a season.
We topped our CL group and are currently sitting fourth, five points off of second place.
Maybe signing VVD or another CB in the summer would’ve turned a couple of draws into wins, but no one was getting close to City this season.
As per usual, none of the brilliant football journalists will have either the idea or the stones to ask him about this statement.
Yes, I'm sure we'd still be in the title race if we had Keita and Van Dijk from the start of the season. Maybe even topped our CL group! Oh wait..
These players may take a bit of time to settle in as well. I know that van Dijk has played in the league, but learning to play Kloppball takes time and it isn't for everyone. So the sooner they get into the team and play regularly, the easier the transition is.
I think it's definitely an ambitious signing for that kind of money but it's an area where Liverpool badly need someone half decent at least.
It's a bonkers transfer strategy. You broke your transfer record for Keita, only to agree to let him stay in Germany until next September, knowing full well that CL qualification was far from guaranteed this season, and that your best player could well be leaving before he gets there.
You spent all summer refusing to break the bank for van Dijk, only to do so halfway through the season.
It's not really about getting close to City because they're not really a fair yardstick to be using. You're currently closer to Arsenal in 6th than you are Chelsea in 3rd, and fell at the first hurdle in one of the two more winnable competitions you get to enter every season. Bringing in Keita for this season and spending this money on van Dijk in the summer may not have closed the gap on City in any meaningful way, but signing Messi was unlikely to do much in that regard either.
You talk about the possibility of van Dijk signing in August meaning you'd have 4 more points from turning draws into wins, which doesn't sound like much, but it'd put you 5 points clear of 5th, and in the mix with United and Chelsea for 2nd, rather than Arsenal and Spurs for 4th.
As an aside, you can only beat what's in front of you, but winning a group that contained two of the bottom four ranked teams in the competition hardly constitutes a roaring success. Before the format reshuffle Spartak Moscow would have been in Pot 4, and actually ranked lower than Maribor.
Mate it happens every bloody time. If they're over 26 then they're actually 27 etc, etc.
If we hadn't acted the way we did with Keita, he wouldn't be joining us either way next summer, at least now we have tied up one of the hottest midfield prospects in Europe (according to most on the Caf since I haven't even seen that much of him). So there's nothing wrong with that strategy for me. I don't see what Coutinho leaving has to do with Keita by the way.
If you really think we refused to pay the necessary money for Van Dijk last summer, I suggest you revisit the whole saga since that's not even close to what happened.
We are still in the mix with United and Chelsea for 2nd, whether we're 2 points or 5 points off them. You can't account for late-game equalizer, just tough luck or a thousand other circumstances, whether it's with certain players or without them. We could very well be 8th right now even if Keita and Van Dijk had joined us in the summer, so all moot points. Same goes for our CL group - we topped it and that's all we could do, and has nothing to do with either Keita or Van Dijk.
Liverpool fans should forget about the price and instead focus on and malign the price of other clubs transfer dealings. They’ve built their entire team on free transfers up until this point anyway, of course.
Just see the deal is £75 mil plus a £15 mil bonus if he wins the league. So just £75 mil then...
I wonder if football will shift towards an NBA/NFL style transfer trading system if these transfer fees continue to rise as they are.
He’s an okay footballer. I don’t really care who Liverpool sign, but it further inflates the market. We are part of the problem, I’m not denying that, but next year when we want to sign Danny Rose or someone, it’ll be £100m or nothing.
He’s an okay footballer. I don’t really care who Liverpool sign, but it further inflates the market. We are part of the problem, I’m not denying that, but next year when we want to sign Danny Rose or someone, it’ll be £100m or nothing.
god no, RAWK is not far behind bluemoon for deluded fans
To be fair, i didn't see one Liverpool clamouring to sign Naby Keita in the summer because he was amazing, soon as the rumour started and he signed he was suddenly class and theyre all experts. 90% probably never seen him play, so lets not assume hed have made them better or whatever
I'd rather wait a season for Keita than sign another Henderson or Can. Leipzig made it clear they wouldn't sell in the summer, so we got the next best deal for one of the most talented midfielders in Europe
As for VVD, we were willing to pay the money in the summer - it was just the case that Saints refused to budge after the Blackpool debacle. Again, rather him after a 6 month wait than Jonny Evans or Michael Keane in the summer.
Ultimately, we've managed to acquire one of the best midfielders and one of the best defenders in Europe. That's certainly not bonkers in most people's books.
The sudden change of heart from Klippity and his followers in respect of transfer fees is quite interesting. "You paid £90m for Mark Henry" is all I've heard today, well done guys you saw a post on instagram.
VVD isn't even the best in the PL let alone Europe!
Keita isn't even the best midfielder in Germany let alone Europe!
I see a theme in overrating here..
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