Has any single transfer elevated a team as much as Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool?
After the Reds’ embarrassing climbdown in June 2017, where they apologised to Southampton for an illegal approach to sign the centre-back, they finally landed their man just over six months later, bringing the towering Dutchman to Anfield for £75million.
When Van Dijk finally made his Premier League debut for the Reds, they had conceded more than a goal per game and were fourth in the table.
Come the end of the season, Liverpool remained fourth after a run to the Champions League final took priority, but, as an example of Van Dijk’s near-instant impact on Jurgen Klopp’s side, they had conceded just 10 goals in the final 15 games of the season.
That six goals came in Van Dijk’s opening three League games as he settled into his new surroundings speaks volumes about how he almost single-handedly tightened up the Reds’ defence after that brief period.
Liverpool’s success in the following seasons was partly defined by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson’s remarkable ability to contribute in attacking situations despite being defenders by trade.
Yet were Van Dijk not able to cover their defensive contributions, then it’s arguable that the two full-backs’ forays forward would have left the defence exposed and vulnerable to counter-attacks.
His physical presence was enough to terrify attackers, with no player able to successfully dribble past him in the entirety of the 2018/19 season. Yet, while words such as dominating, towering and imposing will always be used to describe a player of Van Dijk’s 6ft 4in stature, to only focus on his physical attributes would fail to do justice to his other skills.
Calm and collected on the ball, Van Dijk’s natural leadership has also inspired the Reds, with his never-say-die attitude personifying Klopp’s demand for his team to become ‘mentality monsters’.
Only the fifth player to play every single minute of a title-winning campaign, Van Dijk’s value to Liverpool is the sort that’s arguably demonstrated more when he’s off-form or injured - both of which make the Reds a noticeably poorer side in a way that the absence of one single player rarely does.
While he may have just the one League winners' medal to his name so far, Van Dijk’s run of absolute defensive dominance marked him out as one of the division’s all-time great players.
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