Virgil van Dijk: Liverpool sign Southampton defender for world record £75m
- Thread starter Gerry_A_Trick
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I look forward to us selling him to Barcelona for £150 million in 18 months.
I made a bet that I'd rim the fuck out of you he didn't sign - I'm gutted. Anyway cool yules brother X 😎 - See you soon gorgeous 😉
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(Green) candle lit Virgil
There is no competition, it's clearly going to be VD and Matip.
Hmmmmmm Probably. Massive X-Mas love to you and your family P. I wonder is Dublin as deluged in snow as it is here in Herts? I can barely get out of my drive! 🙂
There is going to be a lot of pressure on him and judging by the reaction by Liverpool fans there will be an expectation that he will be the solution to our defensive woes.
I don't think that is realistic to be fair but I would be hopeful that he will be an important starting part of the solution.
We still will need a new keeper I reckon to turn us into a fully competent defensive unit
I don't think that is realistic to be fair but I would be hopeful that he will be an important starting part of the solution.
We still will need a new keeper I reckon to turn us into a fully competent defensive unit
Liverpool were so concerned that Manchester City would attempt to hijack their £75million move for Virgil van Dijk that they embarked on an emergency dash to the South Coast.
The ECHO understands that the Reds flew a medical team to Bournemouth Airport on Wednesday morning so they were ready to complete the formalities as soon as a fee had been thrashed out with Southampton.
Liverpool were desperate to ensure there was no delay and that Man City didn't have the opportunity to wrestle Van Dijk from their grasp.
Having met Saints' asking price, the Reds were able to conduct Van Dijk's medical today and with personal terms of around £180,000 per week already agreed, they were in a position to announce the club record deal five days before the January window opens.
Van Dijk had his heart set on a move to Anfield but Liverpool knew that a counter bid of £75million from Man City - coupled with a bumper wage offer - would have complicated matters and prolonged their pursuit of the Dutch defender.
As it was Liverpool moved quickly and decisively to complete a deal which will delight Jurgen Klopp.
Lessons were learned from last summer when the Reds made a hash of signing Van Dijk and ended up issuing an apology and publicly withdrawing their interest after Southampton accused them of making an illegal approach.
FSG president Mike Gordon (left) with Linda Pizzuti Henry and Jurgen Klopp at Anfield (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
In recent months Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon has helped to repair relations with Saints, whose hierarchy changed their stance after deciding they would be better off cashing in on Van Dijk than keeping an unhappy player.
Liverpool have ended up paying around £15million more than they were looking to shell out last summer but the owners have backed the manager's judgement.
Klopp is convinced that Van Dijk, who will wear the No 4 shirt, is the dominant leader the Reds' backline has been lacking during his Anfield reign
Van Dijk will officially join Liverpool on January 1 and will be available for both Champions League and FA Cup matches.
The ECHO understands that the Reds flew a medical team to Bournemouth Airport on Wednesday morning so they were ready to complete the formalities as soon as a fee had been thrashed out with Southampton.
Liverpool were desperate to ensure there was no delay and that Man City didn't have the opportunity to wrestle Van Dijk from their grasp.
Having met Saints' asking price, the Reds were able to conduct Van Dijk's medical today and with personal terms of around £180,000 per week already agreed, they were in a position to announce the club record deal five days before the January window opens.
Van Dijk had his heart set on a move to Anfield but Liverpool knew that a counter bid of £75million from Man City - coupled with a bumper wage offer - would have complicated matters and prolonged their pursuit of the Dutch defender.
As it was Liverpool moved quickly and decisively to complete a deal which will delight Jurgen Klopp.
Lessons were learned from last summer when the Reds made a hash of signing Van Dijk and ended up issuing an apology and publicly withdrawing their interest after Southampton accused them of making an illegal approach.
FSG president Mike Gordon (left) with Linda Pizzuti Henry and Jurgen Klopp at Anfield (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
In recent months Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon has helped to repair relations with Saints, whose hierarchy changed their stance after deciding they would be better off cashing in on Van Dijk than keeping an unhappy player.
Liverpool have ended up paying around £15million more than they were looking to shell out last summer but the owners have backed the manager's judgement.
Klopp is convinced that Van Dijk, who will wear the No 4 shirt, is the dominant leader the Reds' backline has been lacking during his Anfield reign
Van Dijk will officially join Liverpool on January 1 and will be available for both Champions League and FA Cup matches.
We've managed to get a central defender definitely wanted by some other teams.
He will walk into the first team, he will be provide an improvement on our current vulnerable as heck defense. He will lead and he seen as part of the jigsaw to strengthen us at the back.
The initial mess up of meeting in Blackpool and all that other crap has since been plugged after very quick announcements of Salah, Keita and Vvd. This I'm also very very happy with, it points towards
A more professional set up
Klopp directing who he wants and those players coming
A willingness to back Klopps choices.
I'm praying vvd is a hit and that we add another first team player to play next to him, a solid keeper behind him and a full of running and tackles DM in front of him
He will walk into the first team, he will be provide an improvement on our current vulnerable as heck defense. He will lead and he seen as part of the jigsaw to strengthen us at the back.
The initial mess up of meeting in Blackpool and all that other crap has since been plugged after very quick announcements of Salah, Keita and Vvd. This I'm also very very happy with, it points towards
A more professional set up
Klopp directing who he wants and those players coming
A willingness to back Klopps choices.
I'm praying vvd is a hit and that we add another first team player to play next to him, a solid keeper behind him and a full of running and tackles DM in front of him
In other news I've heard they were testing Mignolets DNA as a cure for the common cold
Free kicks also
Wow, I step away for a couple of hours and when I come back we sign the most expensive defender in history! £75M is more than I expected (LFC will probably spin it as 65M + add-ons or something like that), but nevertheless I’m excited about what he will bring to this team.
I think it’s also important that we didn’t allow City to get potentially the most dominant and physical defender in the EPL. If Guardiola has any weakness, it’s his inability to stop experimenting, particularly with trying to cram as many midfielders as possible into the team at the expense of “specialist” defenders or forwards. Whenever he had a player who didn’t totally fit this “death by thousand passes” ethos, but was too important or just too damn good to drop (Pujol and Yaya at Barca, Lewandowski at Bayern), I feel it actually made his teams more balanced and stronger than the teams where Pep completely got his way. A physical CB like VVD could have been one such player who could have compensated for a lot of self-created imbalances in Guardiola’s team, so from the point of view of competing with them for titles VVD signing was a “sixpointer”.
I think it’s also important that we didn’t allow City to get potentially the most dominant and physical defender in the EPL. If Guardiola has any weakness, it’s his inability to stop experimenting, particularly with trying to cram as many midfielders as possible into the team at the expense of “specialist” defenders or forwards. Whenever he had a player who didn’t totally fit this “death by thousand passes” ethos, but was too important or just too damn good to drop (Pujol and Yaya at Barca, Lewandowski at Bayern), I feel it actually made his teams more balanced and stronger than the teams where Pep completely got his way. A physical CB like VVD could have been one such player who could have compensated for a lot of self-created imbalances in Guardiola’s team, so from the point of view of competing with them for titles VVD signing was a “sixpointer”.
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Same here.
Last year, this guy was good. The two Saints fans I talked to said "He wasn't the same player this year - clearly lacking motivation or desire to fight for the club." That worries me ... but he wants to be here and if motivated etc, we have a very good defender.
I think 75 million quid is mental - so I'm going to look at it as 75 million quid for Salah, and 35 million for him. There, now that sounds reasonable.
Hopefully, he is the leader we've been missing in the back since Hyypia's retirement.
I think 75 million quid is mental - so I'm going to look at it as 75 million quid for Salah, and 35 million for him. There, now that sounds reasonable.
Hopefully, he is the leader we've been missing in the back since Hyypia's retirement.
As I said earlier, I doubt if he will be the solution to our defensive problems but he will hopefully be an important part of it.
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