A little over a year since Liverpool completed the £75 million signing of Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, many pundits who balked at the price have now been shown to look foolish.
Chief among them is Alan Shearer, who claimed that van Dijk was not nearly worth his transfer fee back in December 2017.
When speaking to BBC Sport in the aftermath of the deal, the Newcastle legend was incredulous at the sum of money paid for the centre-half and said he was “not worth it at all.”
“Southampton could have named any price they wanted and Liverpool were desperate,” Shearer said. “As we have witnessed many times this season, Liverpool are in dire need of a centre-half. He is good, but £75m? No. He is a good central defender, but for £75m, no way.”
Van Dijk has arguably been one of the most important factors in Liverpool’s current impressive lead in the title race, offering stability and a commanding presence at the heart of defence.
Although the transfer fee was undoubtedly a steep price to pay, the Dutchman’s astounding success goes to show the foolishness of judging a transfer before the player has even made his debut.
Virgil van Dijk’s superb first year at Anfield reveals the misguided opinions of his early naysayers, with BBC pundit Alan Shearer particularly culpable.