Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk will join Liverpool when the transfer window re-opens on 1 January in a world record £75m deal.

This is what he had to say:

"Delighted and honoured to have agreed to become a Liverpool FC player. Today is a proud day for me and my family as I join one of the biggest clubs in world football.

"I can't wait to pull on the famous red shirt for the first time in front of the Kop and will give everything I have to try and help this great club achieve something special in the years to come.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Les Reed, the board, manager, players, fans and everyone at Southampton.

"I will always be indebted to the club for giving me the opportunity to play in the Premier League and despite a difficult last few months, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Saints and have made friends for life at the club."

The fee is the most ever paid for a defender.

What are your thoughts on this?

Personally, i think its ridiculous (like seriously, what is the world of football coming to?!?!). And all the Pogba critics about his absurd price, i wonder if they will criticise Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool!?!? :D :D

Anyway, leave your thoughts and comments below... :)

I guess they're just trying to further piss Mourinho off and won't be long now till this bubble bursts, but what do I know?

75M lmao, Mbappe & Neymar are bargain by this price.

I saw guy on reddit post list of defenders better than van Dijk, and he isn't best deal you could got for €75mil, but if I was Liverpool fan I'd be more concerned about his mentality. He pretty much said screw it to Southampthon after summer. Was average (at most) from what I've seen myself and heard from regular Southampthon watchers... although he is class on his day.

And yes, there are much more problems in Liverpool's defence, problems that one CB can't fix by himself.

Never thought of him as one of the beat CBs and wouldn't merit such a high fee. He's good, but I could thin of better CB to go after. Hopefully he actually helps liverpools leaky defense.

Well, he is more solid than anything Liverpool got at the moment but when you know Milan signed Bonucci for nearly half that amount last summer, it make you realize how stupid the transfer market is getting, especially in England. :( My only wish is that he succeed at Liverpool. :D

Surely Liverpool deserve a loyalty bonus for shopping at Southampton? Maybe a free Steven Davis? Or Maya Yoshida?

You need to see the whole story in order to get the whole picture right, Liverpool was chasing Van Dijk for a long while and this is why the price got so high, he is valued highly regardless but because of the whole saga thing Liverpool looked a bit desperate, which I can understand as well.

I won't ever be mad about a club getting a player they targeted specifically, especially over a long period of time. Southampton sensed desperation, and has obviously dealt with Liverpool before. Every fan seems pretty happy with the outcome down there.

As for Liverpool, their defense will improve, no doubt. That is what is preventing the team from legit domination, so they could very likely have a good run in the UCL/EPL. Finishing above Chelsea/United is very possible when you're scoring 3 a game, and if they're no longer shipping 2, suddenly that seems perfectly reasonable. Assuming Van Dijk actually fixes anything, which Liverpool seem perfectly happy to bet 75 mil on.

Overall implications...I don't see that much changing. Neymar and Mbappe going for massive fees certainly showed the market for BEST IN THE WORLD players, but I'd argue the important one was Dembele. For better or for worse, Barca way overspent on a player who was never on that level - and that's the kickback we're seeing now. Without some type of intervention, this is the new normal. I won't make any comments on the price of this transfer based on that.

@sun, at the same time I feel Barca was in a similar position as Liverpool. Neymar had just left and barca needed a replacement quickly. Every team knew just how much money they could demand since the whole transfer was public. No way in ell Dembele was worth 100mil but BvB took advantage of the situation and made the best outcome possible for themselves. It's a hustlers market.

Wow! Liverpool buying a Southampton player, would've never thought of it....

Wow! 75 Mill, Definitely worth the price.

In todays market to me Liverpool got a bargain, tbh wish we got him instead he is a world class defender hopefully Liverpool can buy more top class defenders/goalkeeper to play alongside Van Dijk

@rain

While I don't doubt that BVB really wanted to hold onto Dembele, Barca had the chance to make Neymar's transfer the exception, as opposed to the rule. They didn't. I personally disagree with that decision, which is simply an opinion, and has nothing to do with Dembele really, just the fee he went for.

I mean, looking at this season, it's not like Barca has really needed him. No one knew that at the time, but fair enough.

These prices... ridiculous....

Although I wouldn't be surprised that Liverpool throws cash on this transfer, they have been after Virgil for a while.

@Aiden I guess he could have done ok associated with Ramos, pherhap a bit better than Varane but I think that would have been it.

@tuan_jinn Do they even have the ressource to spend more? I mean, they didn't spend that much in the summer (even though they already signed Keita) but its not like they are the richest club in the prem. Unless they already know Coutinho is leaving for amazing fee next season.

Btw guys, tell me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this transfer make Van Djik the most expensive Liverpool player and the most expensive player in a winter transfer window? That and the fact he is most expensive defender atm should put a lot of pressure and if he doesn't perform very well, he will propably be considered a deception. Don't you think?

They should have more cash to spend, they all do, those are valuation money of the clubs, that creates fluctuation but it's how the business runs. Doesn't matter how much debts they have, as long as the investors agree on that based on their financial analytics, such purchase would go through.

Yeah mate, he became top 7 most expensive players...

I know that he's good, especially with his capable of scoring and long ball passing but such price is insane. Consider he ain't that great playing for the Dutch national team (to be fair the whole Dutch team sucks) :D

But congrat to all 3 parties i guess. they seem all happy with the transaction!

@tuan For now. But seriously, if he fail to help Liverpool getting scored less goal or to qualify for Champion League, I'm seriously gonna consider him overpaid. :P

this a klopp buy so im not really concerned he knows what his doing,look at all his signings are always better than what they were look at mane and salah best signs liverpool made since we bought philip.

i mean, its not really 75 million; what we sell cou for should more than cover vvd and naby.

@liverpollfcangryfan Only Salah wasn't really Klopp signing from what I heard, his scouting departement are the one who insisted about signing him. :P

@nandaYNWA If you do sell him, that is. You shouldn't buy player with a budget containing money you don't actually already have. Also, the fact you cover it with a sell doesn't change the prize. :P

@Emo Salah was a Klopp signing. He works with his same team from Dortumund that make decisions together. He knew which type of a player he wanted and it has been proven now.