Aymeric Laporte and Virgil van Dijk are now the Premier League’s two best defenders after starring under Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.
Liverpool had identified Manchester City star Aymeric Laporte as an alternative for Virgil Van Dijk before breaking their transfer record to sign the towering Dutchman in January 2018, according to the Goal.
From the outside, it felt like Liverpool had adopted ‘a Van Dijk or nobody’ stance 18 months ago. After failing to sign the Southampton powerhouse after a protracted transfer saga the previous summer, Jurgen Klopp’s side went all out for Van Dijk midway through the season and eventually got their man after agreeing to pay a staggering £75 million.
And it’s a testament to the impact he’s made at Anfield that Van Dijk now feels like a bargain.
But things could have been very different if Southampton had stood firm with Goal claiming that Laporte, who eventually moved to Manchester City later in the same month, was one of the alternative options in Liverpool’s sights.
The report adds that The Reds had also looked at Manuel Akanji, Jamal Lascelles, Kalidou Koulibaly and even Bayern Munich veteran Jerome Boateng.
But Liverpool, it is claimed, had reservations about paying the £57 million release clause in Laporte’s Athletic Bilbao contract in one lump sum and, once Van Dijk arrived at Anfield to huge fanfare, the door swung open for Manchester City to snap up the highly-rated Spaniard.
These days, Laporte and Van Dijk are by far and away the finest defenders anywhere in the Premier League. But with the former ruled out for an extended period with a serious knee injury, Van Dijk has a glorious opportunity to take Liverpool clear at the top of the table.
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