Danny Murphy, our former midfielder, has claimed that we are close to signing Virgil van Dijk despite all the madness surrounding the transfer in the past two weeks or so.

The Englishman was speaking to the media regarding the transfer and stated that the Dutchman would be a “phenomenal signing” before adding that there still is a lot of work to be done in the market. As quoted by Sport360, he said:

“Personally, the problem for Liverpool was more defensive [last season]. I think the Van Dijk thing is close. That would be a phenomenal signing. But there’s definitely more business to be done at Anfield.”

Even though Murphy stated that our problems were in the defence last season, he still suggested if we want to move and sign a new striker who can guarantee goals.

“My understanding is that they are really trying to push the boat out in bringing new players in to try and compete. I suppose the other question is do they need a striker who can get 20 goals a season.”

That second bit doesn’t really make a lot of sense given that Roberto Firmino had a decent return with 11 goals and 7 assists in the Premier League. We also still have the likes of Daniel Sturridge on our team while Divock Origi and Danny Ings would be looking to get more goals and playing time next season.

Van Dijk could be a Red soon

The major point from Murphy has to be the fact that he believes we are close to getting one of our primary targets in Van Dijk. It is a little difficult to accept the fact that we can still sign him up after our public apology a few weeks ago and stating that we are not interested in the player anymore.

That episode could have been done to avoid a Premier League ban on signing players and it does seem to have worked as neither Southampton or the Premier League have taken any action against us.

Southampton too would not want to lose out on such a major payday by not selling the Dutchman and with Van Dijk also stating that he only wants to move to Liverpool, their hands are tied.

Van Dijk certainly would be one of the better defensive signings we would have made over the years and even if his price tag nears the £50million mark, he can turn out to be a quality player for many years to come.