Liverpool faced a major setback in the attempts to overhaul a defence that conceded 42 goals in the league last season. Manager Jurgen Klopp was very keen on signing a defender early on in this transfer window in order to strengthen Liverpool’s backline as soon as possible.
Liverpool showed plenty of interest in Virgil van Dijk, who was also keen on a move to Anfield. However, an official complaint from Southampton over the illegal approach for the player led to Liverpool’s interest failing to progress into a new signing (Guardian).
Club legend Graeme Souness now says that Liverpool should not resist the idea of going back to Van Dijk, as he believes that Southampton may be ready to do business the proper way. In the past, Southampton and Liverpool have been involved in the transfer of several players including the likes of Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren. However, it is understood that the South Coast club were angered by the decision of Liverpool to approach Van Dijk rather than come to the club first.
But, Souness is of the opinion that Klopp should make another attempt to sign the Dutchman, despite the setback. Speaking to talkSPORT, Souness said:
“I don’t think they’ve got enough strength in depth to make a real impression in the two big trophies. A new centre-half, that would have been the main one for me. If I was manager of Liverpool at this time I would have pushed the boat out and done whatever you had to do to get the boy Van Dijk.”
“I’m an enormous fan of Van Dijk, I would love for him to go to Liverpool. When a player makes things look easy, that tells you they’re really good at what they do. Whoever gets him would improve them greatly, and it’ll be a shame if it’s not Liverpool. But, it may still happen, we don’t know.”
A number of top clubs have been interested in signing Van Dijk this summer, but Liverpool had the advantage of attempting the player with regular first-team football and the possibility of captaining one of the historic clubs in England. Van Dijk has been a revelation since he came to English football from Celtic in the summer of 2015 and has grown into one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League.
Van Dijk remains a player who will strengthen Liverpool substantially, as the club have not signed a defender in this transfer window so far. Mohamed Salah and Dominic Solanke have been the only arrivals in the summer. However, it is believed that we are close to signing Andy Robertson from Hull City (Indepenent), but he is expected to be a replacement for Alberto Moreno. A top centre-back remains a key objective for this transfer window, but we have so far been disappointed in the attempts to strengthen this position.
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