The football transfer market, has over the years, been privy to massive transfer values which has only increased with the ever-increasing commercialisation of the sport. But traditionally, we have grown up associating the mind-boggling numbers with players who are more effective at the other end of the pitch i.e the final third in the opponent’s half.
But in the past few transfer windows, we have seen a massive spike in the market value of defenders. In the last summer alone, Manchester City spent the glorious amount of £133m in the span of three days to sign Danilo, Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy.
Raphaël Varane, who won the Champions League and the Fifa World Cup in the past 3 months is a strong contender for the Ballon d’Or. His market value stands at €80,00m.
In this series tracking the most expensive defenders to grace the top clubs in the Premier League, today we look at the 3 most expensive defenders Liverpool have signed till date.
#3 GLEN JOHNSON
Johnson joined Liverpool from Portsmouth for a fee of £18.5m. He arrived at Anfield amidst a lot of hype and fanfare. He had a wonderful start to his career with The Reds, scoring two goals in his opening four league matches. But he could not sustain the dizzying heights which people expected him to operate at.
During his time at Anfield, he was more of an attacking player who likes to dart forward and take part in the offensive endeavours. He started as a right wing-back and even switched to the left-hand side of the defence when Liverpool were short of options.
Johnson joined Stoke City in 2015 after his contract expired with Liverpool.
#2 DEJAN LOVREN
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool signed the Croatian international for £20m. Lovren was very impressive at Southampton where he established himself as a leader of the defence. His career at Anfield has been filled with ups and downs. His inconsistent performances have been the major reason for his criticism.
Lovren has 47 clean sheets in his 149 appearances in the Premier League. Last season, he had a tackle success rate of 65% and made 142 clearances.
Since his arrival at Liverpool, he has played in four major finals – the League Cup, Europa League, UEFA Champions League and the World Cup. The only fact that is likely to worry him and Liverpool fans is that he has failed to win any of those(!)
#1 VIRGIL VAN DIJK
Liverpool paid a whopping £75m to Southampton to secure the services of Virgil van Dijk in January this year to make him the most expensive defender of all time. The transfer handsomely surpassed Manchester City’s record signing of Benjamin Mendy for £52m.
His arrival was definitely a boost for Jurgen Klopp. Van Dijk helped The Reds to qualify for the Champions League final, only to be defeated by Real Madrid. He formed a solid partnership with Dejan Lovren in the last 6 months. The defensive pair will look to carry on in the same manner as they embark on what is touted as Klopp’s biggest year at Anfield.
(Stats Courtesy – Premier League)
