Liverpool sent shockwaves throughout the world of football in late December 2017. Liverpool have won three trophies in 12 months and are on course to lift a fourth with van Dijk leading their team
The Reds, long plagued by defensive issues, made a statement in the transfer market by breaking the world record for a defender when Virgil van Dijk arrived from Southampton for £75 million.
The Reds first went in for the Netherlands captain in the summer of 2017, but the way the negotiations were done infuriated Southampton and Liverpool were forced to publicly stand down. Humiliated, it looked like the pursuit of Van Dijk was all but over.
Instead, bridges were built in the months that followed as Liverpool looked to resurrect the deal. The price would rise but Liverpool, ever determined, did the deal.


Liverpool celebrating their sixth champions league title
Since then, Van Dijk has been instrumental in Liverpool winning the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup, as well as their title challenge this season.
It could have all been so different, though, if Southampton had blocked another Reds move for the 28-year-old, leaving another club to snap him up.
Before the arrival of Van Dijk, manager Jurgen Klopp’s preferred central defensive partnership was Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip, with Joe Gomez often deployed as a full-back.
The Reds conceded 38 goals in the 2017/18 Premier League season, when Van Dijk was only present for the second half of the season.
They only let in 22 goals last season and have conceded just 21 times so far this campaign combined, this is just five more than the 17/18 season alone.

The 2016/17 season saw Klopp’s men concede 42 goals, and 50 in his first season in charge at Anfield.
What Van Dijk has brought, in abundance, is focus in the defensive line of course helped by the addition of goalkeeper Alisson but the Netherlands defender sets the tone with his calm approach to the game. He rarely dives in, because he’s rarely out of position; if he is, he has the speed and the strength to recover. The transfer wasn't like Liverpool, whose usual model under FSG wasn't one that broke world records in the transfer market.
Indeed, such deals were done by clubs like Man City, and it was a deal that the Citizens were desperate to do.