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... :)

@Golazo He himself refuse to take credit for the signature, here are some article that prove it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5186633/Liverpool-boss-Jurgen-Klopp-nearly-didnt-sign-Mo-Salah.html

and

here is as well

Also, to save you some time, here is a quote from the article which should make it clear for you:

He was a long-term project for Liverpool’s scouts. Their interest in the Egyptian dates back years. They tried to bring him to Anfield in 2014 only for Chelsea to swoop. After spells at Fiorentina and Roma, Salah finally made it to Liverpool.

Manager are important no doubt but believe me when I say they are not the only with a say in who join and who doesn't join the club. Its a lot more complicated than in FIFA or PES. Scout can make their own initiative and aren't only working on manager order.

@Emo I never said he was the only one, the term Klopp signing is used to describe the effort of his whole staff in which player the team needs, he could have said no and went for another target but he didn't, ultimately it was his decision but like I said in my previous post he works with the same staff he had in Dortmund and you can see them in every game, on top of that Liverpool has their own directors and scouts that help as well. They all do their tasks and the staff trains players as well, but it's the idea and vision of Klopp that wants the team to play that style of football that the whole staff is looking to make a reality.

@Golazo111 That wasn't really my point but I'm going out of topic so I'll just stop. Let's talk about it another time instead. :P

@Emo It's never only 1 person involved when signing a target player, still doesn't make it any less of a Klopp signing.

@Golazo Of course, but imo depending on how much the manager worked or actually wanted the transfer to happen, it change the amount of credit the manager deserve for bringing that player. That mostly what I meant, of course, Klopp made the final decision and didn't outright say no, so he deserve credit for that.

First game for Liverpool and already he scored a key goal for them! :D