Late on Wednesday afternoon, Liverpool FC confirmed the club record signing of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton.
Signed for a reported £75m fee, the 26-year-old defender will become a Liverpool player when the transfer window opens on January 1.
Liverpool failed to land their key summer target but Jurgen Klopp’s side re-entered discreet negotiations over the last few days.
Van Dijk was a reported target for Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal but the Dutchman reportedly favoured a move to Anfield to work with Jurgen Klopp.
He’s been handed the No 4 shirt and becomes the most expensive defender in world football.
Liverpool had already spent close to £100m on five Southampton players since the summer of 2014.
They have raided Adam Lallana (£25m), Dejan Lovren (£20m), Rickie Lambert (£4.5m), Nathaniel Clyne (£12.5m) and Sadio Mané (34m) from the South Coast.
WIJNALDUM’S TWEET TO VVD GOES VIRAL
Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has become a key member of Klopp’s first team since joining from Newcastle.
He’s played alongside Van Dijk for the Dutch senior team and the Dutch U-21 team – so Gini Wijnaldum extended a special welcome to his new club teammate just minutes after it was officially announced.
Welcome to @LFC ☺️ BIG VIRGIL @VirgilvDijk 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/hd8LvAcY7d
— Georginio Wijnaldum (@GWijnaldum) December 27, 2017
LIVERPOOL FANS WERE ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT
Shout out to gini for making it happen 🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱 https://t.co/BaZVL02NBT
— Taha chaudhry (@___lfc) December 27, 2017
Agent Gini 😏🤩 #LFC https://t.co/V7wkzpBDiR
— Jonny (@JonnyH9310) December 27, 2017
Big Gini with the assist https://t.co/YYTbxl1jG7
— Matt (@Anfield_Maestro) December 27, 2017
I LOVE YOU DUTCH PEOPLE DU DU DU GINI WIJNALDUM
— LFC Fans Corner (@LFCFansCorner) December 27, 2017
— This Is Anfield (@thisisanfield) December 27, 2017
Van Dijk is expected to make his debut in next weekend’s FA Cup 3rd round clash against Merseyside rivals Everton.