IT was a devastating blow. Just as we had all gotten used to the idea of the answer to Liverpool’s defensive prayers lining up in his big, red super suit to start the new season, news broke that the club had officially ended its interest in Virgil van Dijk.
Whatever the reasons for Southampton getting irked with The Reds and their pursuit of their star player, forcing the club to back down, there was a huge air of disappointment around Merseyside. The defence desperately needed improving, and van Dijk seemed to tick all the boxes.
Many suggested that Jürgen Klopp should have gone for an alternative, but he didn’t. He bided his time. He knew that the big Dutchman was a rare breed, unique even, and had everything he wanted in a player to lead the defence of his evolving Liverpool side.
He also trusted the likes of Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan in the short term. He even played Emre Can and Gini Wijnaldum at centre back in a game at Brighton, which felt a bit like the knife juggler at a circus also balancing on a wire for no discernible reason, but it worked.
There had been whispers that a deal may be resurrected as the January transfer window approached but nothing concrete, until out of nowhere on one cold December evening, news broke that Liverpool had agreed a fee for van Dijk. The general reaction was “wow, Liverpool are signing van Dijk. What a great signing that will be for… How much?!”
Like yer da at Christmas, despite The Reds procuring a superb defender who they were in dire need of, the price tag was seemingly the only thing that was worth discussing. Nearly a year on and it says it all that nobody is talking about that price tag anymore.
If anything you would imagine there will be people at Southampton who now think the £75m they received was actually too low. Their former captain has gone on to play in a Champions League final and establish himself as a leading player in world football, while The Saints’ performance at Manchester City on Sunday featured the sort of defending that looked like when you try and teach your three-year old niece how to play FIFA. Wesley Hoedt also looked like he’d rather go and play with his toy pony at times.