The £75million Liverpool forked out to bring Virgil van Dijk to Anfield raised eyebrows at the time, with many questioning the logic behind paying such a monstrous fee for a defender. Just over a year on, few even mention his price tag anymore.
He has completely transformed what was once a notoriously leaky Liverpool defence into one of the meanest backlines in European football, and established himself as one of the best defenders in the world as a result.
While the questions about his transfer fee may have been justified at the time, they do look a bit foolish looking back now. One of those who doubted the Dutchman was Gary Neville, something he was reminded of on Sky Sports tonight.
On the day the transfer was confirmed, he expressed doubts about the investment Liverpool had made.
"Wow, that is an incredible amount of money"
How @GNev2 reacted to Virgil van Dijk's transfer to Liverpool from Southampton back in 2017 😂
Watch Friday Night Football now on Sky Sports PL pic.twitter.com/SQPt7EtXlF— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 5, 2019
It's a lot of money isn't it? I haven't seen a lot of Southampton recently, but I'm not sure he's even been playing that well.
Just when you told me when I got in here, I was like 'wow, £75million'. I wasn't surprised by the actual transfer, but that is an incredible amount of money.
What can I say? Liverpool need defenders, they're obviously having to pay to get him. That's just the way the market is and I don't think it's going to change.
To be fair to Neville, he took it all in good spirits. He is now completely converted to a van Dijk believer, saying that he has made an unbelievable difference to the Liverpool side.
For a die hard United man like Gary Neville to say that van Dijk is the best defender he has seen in a long time is remarkable to hear, but you certainly can't disagree with him.
