The pressure that comes with a record-breaking transfer has been well publicised at this stage. Paul Pogba's first year with Manchester United under Jose Mourinho was dominated by the caveat of his transfer fee.
The latest man who will play under this scrutiny is Virgil Van Dijk. Yesterday, the news was confirmed that Van Dijk would join Liverpool for a record-breaking £75 million. The fee makes him the most expensive defender in football right now.
While many have already spoken about the challenge facing Van Dijk with regards to his fee, speaking on Off the Ball, John Giles has argued the biggest challenge the Dutch centre-half will have to overcome is his new manager.
Jurgen Klopp has a shaky defensive record as Liverpool boss. The issues with his left-back and goalkeeper have been well publicised, but Giles feels Klopp himself needs to shoulder some of the blame for this.
I have my doubts whether he will be probably used, with the qualities of a natural defender Van Dijk has himself. I just see other defenders, in my opinion, badly coached in defensive positions with Klopp in charge of it. Now whether the new personal that he brings in changes that, I don't know. I just have my doubts about him. I think Van Dijk is without question better than the central defenders Liverpool have at the moment.
Giles said Van Dijk "could be badly coached when it comes to defending" using Liverpool's recent loss to Spurs as an example:
Would Klopp having him playing in positions, in dead balls positions that wouldn't be correct? For example, I saw Liverpool, one of their worst displays, against Spurs a few weeks ago when they were well beaten. For the first goal, I think it was a free-kick initially, they were very badly lined up for the free-kick. Now that had to come for the coaches, either Klopp or his defensive coaches.
You can here his comments in full here.
SEE ALSO: Liverpool Prospect Reveals The Disgusting Racist Abuse He Suffered This Year
