Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk confident that the club will be able to attract top players despite having no Champions League football
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is confident that the club won’t have any issue in attracting the top players in the summer transfer window despite the expected absence from the Champions League for next season.
Only a miracle can take the Reds into the top four after they dropped two points at home to Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has kind of accepted that his team will be playing Europa League and claims that they will adopt it as their competition.
Debugging the myth that the club won’t attract top players with no Champions League, here’s what van Dijk said (h/t Liverpool Echo):
“Will no Champions League make it harder to recruit? No. Pre-season will be massive. Everybody knows we’ve been going through a little bit of a transition and, if I’m a player on the rise and I have options to go to the next step and Liverpool is knocking on my door, then I would be very, very interested. I don’t think it’s going to change much but, if someone wants to play in the Champions League no matter what, then that’s their ambition.”
A few days ago, Klopp reiterated pretty much the same thing regarding attracting top players irrespective of the European competition they will be in. The lure of Liverpool is what the German referred to.
The Reds must sign multiple midfielders to bolster that department in the summer. There might be a need for a defender as well to support the likes of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.
When asked about the transfer plans, Klopp did say that the club is looking at every department in the summer window.
After the successes Liverpool have had in the last five years and considering the history of the club, one season without Champions League football should not discourage players to join this summer.
More Liverpool News
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- Liverpool to pounce for Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch should an opportunity arise
If we look at the targets, Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister looks like a deal that is close to happening. Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano reported that Liverpool are close to agreeing on personal terms with the player. The Argentine would add technical quality along with great running power.
