Topic: Virgil Van Dijk (Cpt)

[MULLENEDWINE]

What a brilliant bit of news, glad it's sorted early and we can get on with the window without it dragging out in the media. Well done to the team behind it!

[Mister Flip Flop]

The price is the price and to be honest with our owners i'm not worried at all. They will have done the figures and sat down with the manager and come to the conclusion he's worth the fee so im happy. The way things are going you will be seeing clubs paying over 100m for defenders next summer anyway so it is what it is. 

[Mister Flip Flop]

What a brilliant bit of news, glad it's sorted early and we can get on with the window without it dragging out in the media. Well done to the team behind it!

Very good point.

[Groundskeeper Willie]

Don't understand those who take issue with the fee. We wouldn't pay if we couldn't afford and/or if it would affect other deals.

[vicar]

Don't understand those who take issue with the fee. We wouldn't pay if we couldn't afford and/or if it would affect other deals.

Completely agree. Really positive that FSG have backed Klopp. Now we need to back them all.

[The Final Third]

I dunno if Southampton would have been better off four months ago. They were going through some backroom and board changes and they wouldn't have sent the best message to sell their best asset to a team they always lose their best players to. They showed their intent and I think their fans appreciated it. The results are not purely VVD's fault. Also they got like 15 to 20 million more pounds which is awesome for them.

Perhaps. I see it another way. They were at a crossroads with new owners and manager and it could've been an excellent time for a tabula rasa..a time to rebuild the team with the VVD money (and yes we were prepared to pay 70m even then had it been green-lighted) in the new manager's image. All of course without the spectre of Virgil's disenchantment looming over the club with his every appearance. There's no doubt in my mind that it affected Soton negatively and contributed to the malaise.

If making a point to their fans was the sole reason then it just appears even more disingenuous having sold him 4 months later.

[edeyj]

So the size of the fee doesn't suit the "has beens" (sorry football pundits). Who cares. Klopp wanted the player and the club could afford it. There wouldn't be a murmur if it was a sugar daddy bankrolled club like City or Chelsea.

[Studgotelli]

I trust Klopp to make him a top qualiity CB

The way Firmino had him chasing his shadow for the 2nd Salah goal was startling.But southampton are shite,we are great andhe'll learn and develop here

Think he’ll do well but my one concern will be how quickly he manages to turn it on for us after downing tools for pretty much half a season over there.

How easy will it be for him to up his intensity to our level? Will be very surprised if he suddenly turns back on!

[Johns_Barn]

Nah that's Ibe you're thinking of

O'rly?!

[PhilV]

"but but but FSG don't invest, moneyball c*nts etc etc"


Well in the club and manager, no doubt we paid over retail by A LOT but with City and Chelsea sniffing and after the summer situation they had us by the balls and we still did it, a while back we would have walked away.


Fair play. I hope hes here for a long long time and commands that defence with JK getting the best out of him

[Johns_Barn]

Alexis Sanchez has been pretty indifferent all season - but people would go crazy if he signed for Man U, Man Manchester City or Chelsea.  No one would bring up his indifferent form - it's a stick that supporters need to use to make themselves feel better about the fact that Liverpool got the player that all teams coveted last summer.

Absolutely. They wanked themselves off silly about how porous we are at the back. We attempt to solve it. Rather than acknowledge the size of this signing, it's all,  "WELL THEY STILL HAVE A SHIT KEEPER!!!"

Staw clutching bellwhifs... Must be a sign of fear.

[Fluke]

He's too cool to allow that to affect him. One of the things that impresses me most about VVD is the calm and collected nature in which he carries himself. He never seems flustered.

I don't know. He seems to have been moaning a fair bit the past few months...  Hopefully that's all tied in to his feeling at the club, rather than creeping into his general mentality.

[Johns_Barn]

Imagine if he scored a header on his debut

In his Groningen days he scored a fuck tonne of goals on the deck. He has it in his locker. 

[JP!]

Well, can't say the owners haven't backed Klopp - only had to wait 6 months because someone couldn't keep their gob shut, but that's some fee that.  Add Keita, Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain, there's been some money put up here for players THE MANAGER wants.  He knew his targets, and if he wants Van Dijk it's good enough for me,  screw the media gobshites.

[Felch Aid]

Fuck me the manc supporters in the office are all over this. All about the fee. I just said are Pogba and Lukaku worth their transfer fees? That defence is hardly covering itself in glory with a manager who is known for letting little in.

Damned if we do get him damned if we don't. Can't win.

Come on Virgil show them who's boss.

[clinical]

So bar the left back at Roma who got injured. Klopp got who he wanted just not at same time. But first time our manager got who he wanted for years.

[vicar]

Fuck me the manc supporters in the office are all over this. All about the fee. I just said are Pogba and Lukaku worth their transfer fees? That defence is hardly covering itself in glory with a manager who is known for letting little in.

Damned if we do get him damned if we don't. Can't win.

Come on Virgil show them who's boss.

Add the cost of their back four, Lindelof, Bailly (which I thought was a shoe company), Shaw, Jones total must be well in excess of £100m (not even taking account of inflation) and compare to ours...

[wige]

Can we all just take a minute to praise Jurgen Klopp and the board?

We were all desperate to sign Van Dijk and Keita in the summer. Those were the two players we all wanted and the club has shown ambition, drive and determination and got both. Just imagine; both of them will be wearing red next year!

For the first time that I can remember, it seems we have a clear plan and a blue print for success. The entire club seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet and FSG deserve enormous credit for  backing their manager to this extent and trusting his judgement in waiting.

Finally, finally, FINALLY Liverpool FC have paid what it takes to get a top, top player. 75 million means nothing sitting in the bank, and I'm so glad we didn't opt for the usual 3 or 4 15-20 million pound players. Let's not forget that Chelsea and CIty were interested in the summer and no doubt were sniffing again. But we got him!! We didn't haggle. We didn't delay. We didn't fanny about. We got him!!

We are no longer settling in the transfer market. It would have been easy for Klopp to say "ok who's second on our list of center backs" but he didn't. We need to applaud Klopp's patience - he put up with a lot of shit for not signing a defender but he has been proved right. Another reason for doubters to become believers.

Absolutely right.

This should put to bed any doubts, complaints and sniping at the club/owners/whoever over transfers. It won't, but it should. Those who still snipe on just out themselves as being part of the cancer that serves to drive wedges amongst players, supporters, manager and owners.

Owners have got their man, they've backed their man. That man has a group of trusted lieutenants who together are showing truly elite judgement in player acquisition as well as elite levels of player development.

[Johns_Barn]

where do you get we don't have any money from or are you buying into the theory that FSG are bleeding money from the club despite no evidence of this in the accounts! Be happy that we have made a statement and don't add fuel to the conspiracy theories

Recent net spend facts are not conspiracy. Our strongest defence cost TWELVE MILLION. The irony is that you will not find a single post from me suggesting FSG stealing from us or of me being on their case. I am simply stating it was a complete shocker to me that we dropped such a big fee in Jan for this guy.  If I'm so wrong for feeling this, show me the precedent for breaking 💰 records away from the Carroll debacle? Why else are so many follwers of the club and those outside of the club reacting in a similar way today? It ain't an everyday thing. That's is all.

I am over the moon that Jurgen is being backed to the hilt. He has so many hits in the transfer market, that I'm salivating. If we can get Keith this Jan I'm lumping on 2nd.

[Always_A_Red]

Fuck me the manc supporters in the office are all over this. All about the fee. I just said are Pogba and Lukaku worth their transfer fees? That defence is hardly covering itself in glory with a manager who is known for letting little in.

Damned if we do get him damned if we don't. Can't win.

Come on Virgil show them who's boss.

Tell them to get fucked and laugh in their faces. They are genuinely worried. They wont admit it, but we are going places and people are beginning to realise it.

There's a number of key events that have happened in the past 6 months which show our intent:

- Telling Barca to get fucked on a number of occasions when most of the media and opposition fans were adamant that we 'couldn't stop him going to a club like Barca'

- Paying a bit more for Keita to ensure the deal was done and we could sign him in 12 months time

- Not kneejerking and buying a 2nd rate defender when Klopp knew he wanted VVD. For all the stick he's got about our 'defence', we sit 4th in the league & are through to the last 16 in the CL having won our group & scored more goals than any team bar PSG. Now we have our man.

- Lemar turned down the opportunity to join Arsenal on deadline day because according to sources he 'has his heart set on Liverpool'.

- Oxlaide Chamberlain turned down a £35m transfer to Chelsea in the hope that he could join us, and he did.

That's potentially Lemar, Keita, Ox & VVD who have seen us as a more attractive destination than our rivals. When can we think of a time where this has happened? I'm struggling to think of a transfer in the past 20 years where this has happened, nevermind 4 in the space of 6 months!

The reds are coming up the hill. Let your mates laugh. Let the media spin their bullshit. We have Jurgen Klopp as our manager and WE ARE LIVERPOOL - The best football team in the land! YES. WE. ARE.

   

[Eeyore]

Absolutely right.

This should put to bed any doubts, complaints and sniping at the club/owners/whoever over transfers. It won't, but it should. Those who still snipe on just out themselves as being part of the cancer that serves to drive wedges amongst players, supporters, manager and owners.

Owners have got their man, they've backed their man. That man has a group of trusted lieutenants who together are showing truly elite judgement in player acquisition as well as elite levels of player development.

Or is it just the case that we have a proven elite manager who quite simply refuses to accept players he doesn't want being foisted on him unlike his predecessor. For me signing VVD is down to Klopp digging his heels refusing to accept a compromise choice who wouldn't of been ideal and having the cahonas to go into the season short at the back.

For me there is every chance VVD might be a little rusty at the start and might take time to adjust so it is up to us to back both of them to the hilt. Oh yeah and isn't it absolutely wonderful how upset fans of other clubs are.

[vivabobbygraham]

We'll be accused of trying to buy the title next. Welcome, Virgil, an absolute colossus and as the post above alludes to, his arrival is purely down to the pull of our boss. Well in Jurgen. On to the next target, whoever that may be.

[Broad Spectrum]

Don't understand those who take issue with the fee. We wouldn't pay if we couldn't afford and/or if it would affect other deals.

I think the biggest issue with these sort of transfer fees is clubs can use this as a way to drive up ticket prices. They’ll argue for the club to compete and sign the best players, transfer fees and salaries have to match that ambition. Inevitably, ticket price increases are one of the ways the club can recoup some of those fees. To most it won’t be a huge issue, but there are many regulars at Anfield who think ticket prices are already too high, so they won’t be happy when FSG inevitably put prices up again over the next year or two.

[didi shamone]

No we don't always overpay, not at all. In fact we usually DON'T overpay. For example, just this past summer we didn't overpay for Salah.

Some people can never be happy.

Or Mane, Coutinho, Firmino for that matter. Our small net spend coupled with CL must have left us with the ability to splurge somewhat.

[fowlermagic]

Welcome to the club Virgil. That name alone surely gets forwards quivering and the club / owners mde some statement with this buy.

The owners are realising they took on a classic Ferrari that required major work and while they spent quite a bit on some of the work they were ignoring some key issues. The wallet had to come out and right now the cost to sort out our problems is soaring. Crazy stuff but that was a bit of a wow statement as somehow I thought we get him for a lot less. The fee will soon be the standard for good defenders and hopefully he will show he is worth it. If the lad can ignore the price tag and the jeers from the opposition when it comes to the 'waste of money' shouts then we should have a good defender on our hands as he will have to show a mental strength that comes along with the tag of the worlds expensive defender. Honestly that tag will soon get blown out of the water and all we want is just a wee bit composure to the backline when the fox gets in their among the hens. Crazy times when you think about it as the likes of Kyle Waller and Stone are 50m signings and the whole game is sniffing glue I think. How much would a Hansen Lawreson partnership be worth today? 200m and more.

[elbow]

Cock

 

Let me tell you what like a Virgil is all about.....Dijk, Dijk, Dijk, Dijk, Dijk, Dijk

How many Dijk’s is that?

A lot.

[DHKopper]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40730793 and here's a link to what the guy who scouted him for Celtic says.

Can't be much of a scout him.  He calls Matip a big powerful centre back.

[pjk66]

I saw Carragher saying VVD needs to lose a few pounds as well which won’t happen over night.

Really hope he hits the ground running.

But looking what has happened the Ox since he has been here whipping him into shape shouldn’t be an issue

In the grand scheme of things who is his defensive partner?

[24/7]

There's a number of key events that have happened in the past 6 months which show our intent:

I think I just got a little moist reading that summary

[Wabaloolah]

Recent net spend facts are not conspiracy. Our strongest defence cost TWELVE MILLION. The irony is that you will not find a single post from me suggesting FSG stealing from us or of me being on their case. I am simply stating it was a complete shocker to me that we dropped such a big fee in Jan for this guy.  If I'm so wrong for feeling this, show me the precedent for breaking [emoji383] records away from the Carroll debacle? Why else are so many follwers of the club and those outside of the club reacting in a similar way today? It ain't an everyday thing. That's is all.

I am over the moon that Jurgen is being backed to the hilt. He has so many hits in the transfer market, that I'm salivating. If we can get Keith this Jan I'm lumping on 2nd.

The fact that our Net spend is low shows that we do have plenty of cash reserves in addition to the money we get from the PL TV deal / CL qualification and now knock out stages

We were prepared to spend a significant amount in the Summer and get Keita in for 2018/19 and still told Barca to fuck off a number of times and made a definitive statement that he will not be sold. People said they were bullshitting us and would have to sell when Barca upped their offer but they didn't.

Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part but there is definitely a change, maybe that is down to the owners, the manager or a combination of both.

I'm not convinced VVD is the answer to our defensive woes but I am over the moon that our manager is being backed by our owners

[OOS]

"but but but FSG don't invest, moneyball c*nts etc etc"


Well in the club and manager, no doubt we paid over retail by A LOT but with City and Chelsea sniffing and after the summer situation they had us by the balls and we still did it, a while back we would have walked away.


Fair play. I hope hes here for a long long time and commands that defence with JK getting the best out of him

Lets just wait and see if we keep our best players in the summer before congratulating them. Weve been here before.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Massive fee but a massive boost to our season. Hopefully he hits the ground running.

[andy07]

Don't understand those who take issue with the fee. We wouldn't pay if we couldn't afford and/or if it would affect other deals.

I look at in terms of additional return (points) for the investment (£75M).   A well organised defence lead by a fit and determined VVD will add 10+ points per season (not withstanding the benefit on the counter attack or attacking corners), the difference between a points total of low 70s and low 80s.   It is the one single position where an investment of that size would produce such a benefit.    The next one for me should be the keeper (a de Gea vs Mignolet / Karius).

[PhilV]

Lets just wait and see if we keep our best players in the summer before congratulating them. Weve been here before.

They do deserve to be congratulated. What they have done so far is steady the club, made up financially stable which to me is extremely important, invested in the Stadium, new and better sponsorship deals and kit deals, got a world class Manager in, are backing him with his signings and have plans to invest the Academy and First Team Training Facilities.

All those things are brilliant in the short, medium and long term for the club, you could argue it's to make us more attractive to a buyer but even if that is the case these things are still massively important to the club for on the pitch rewards.

We are on the up and wether you hate them or not, that is under FSG's ownership and approval for the projects we want doing.

Can and Coutinho may be off, but in Can's situation he just doesn't seem to want to renew his contract, he's been offered one as far as many people are concerned but we can't force that, Coutinho is different as we can deffo keep him if we really want to due to his contract so we will have to see how that one turns out but I am resigned to losing Can but to be honest with Keita, Wij and Hendo about and even Milner it's not a huge loss.

[robgomm]

You identify a position that needs filling and you pay to sort it out. It's the only way really, the market is inflated and that determines the crazy fees. City signed two full-backs for huge money because they were absolutely vital positions that needed filling in the squad. How much money you spend depends on what market you're in - we're in the one for top players so be glad of that and be glad we are wiling to spend to solve weaknesses in the squad.

[fowlermagic]

I look at in terms of additional return (points) for the investment (£75M).   A well organised defence lead by a fit and determined VVD will add 10+ points per season (not with standing the benefit on the counter attack or attacking corners), the difference between a points total of low 70s and low 80s.   It is the one single position where an investment of that size would produce such a benefit.    The next one for me should be the keeper (a de Gea vs Mignolet / Karius).

Its going to be interesting as if we show anything like the form we have seen since Spurs for the rest of the season then we should achieve 80 points. That is with the shakiest defence in the league and the worse keeper ever seen apparently if you believe us on a bad day here. The reality is we are keeping quite a lot of clean sheets and having the odd gaff that sends tremors through the cosmo with knee jerking. Overall Van Dijk wont change our overall performance too much as averaging 2.3 points for the last two months is title winning form for most seasons. There is feck all we can do if City are cleaning all ahead of them so hopefully thats a one off but he could make a huge difference in a big game / cup final where we have shown a tendency for stage fright. Fingers crossed.

[Kashinoda]

Fuck me the manc supporters in the office are all over this. All about the fee. I just said are Pogba and Lukaku worth their transfer fees? That defence is hardly covering itself in glory with a manager who is known for letting little in.

Damned if we do get him damned if we don't. Can't win.

Come on Virgil show them who's boss.

The thread on Redcafe has more pages than this one.

The BBC article is the most commented on sports story ever.

It's lovely.

[Motty]

The mancs spent 40 million on Lindehof (or what ever he's called) in the summer and he's fucking shite. I'm sure VVD will prove value for money for us just as Ferdinand did for them all those years ago.

[redk84]

Bottom line for me here is that Klopp wanted this centre back....and we, eventually, got him.

So well done to all those involved for getting this done as soon as possible after the fuckup in the summer. Swift and decisive, the way we should act.

I don't know much about VVD, apart from the attributes he possess seems to excite many people including Klopp. 
I have questions over his ability, as he's not played for a top club so not sure how he will settle especially if/when we get to the arse-end of a title run or cup competitions as he doesn't have the sort of winning experience that I'd hope for....and not sure about his injury record but would hope that the latest one isn't a sign of things to come.

However.

Klopp has another player that HE wants.....and that is the most important thing. We are another step closer to his team so I hope that VVD is going to have a long and successful career with us. It's hard not to get excited about such a big transfer and statement, so I hope it has a positive effect on the rest of our lads and season..........and he gets a fair crack of the whip to settle in without any rushed judgements on his performances.

[JCB]

Has anyone seen POP and Babu together in the same room? Just asking.

I have



but I was very very drunk