'Five or six years?' Klopp unsure over Van Dijk contract length!

Dom Farrell

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'Five or six years?' Klopp unsure over Van Dijk contract length! image

Jurgen Klopp claims he is in the dark over the length of contract Liverpool's club-record signing Virgil van Dijk has agreed at Anfield.

Van Dijk watched on from the stands as Mohamed Salah's brilliant brace secured a 2-1 comeback victory at home to Leicester City on Saturday.

Liverpool have not disclosed the length of the contract agreed by Van Dijk, who will officially usurp Salah as the club's biggest buy and become the most expensive defender in football history when he joins Liverpool for £75million from Southampton on January 1.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the Leicester match, Klopp pleaded ignorance over the Dutchman's deal.

"It is not too important. I don't know how long the contract will be," he said.

"My guess is maybe five or six years? I don't know but we have plenty of time to chat."

Jamie Vardy's third-minute opener for Leicester came following an error from centre-back Joel Matip, but Klopp refuted the suggestion made during his post-match news conference that Van Dijk's arrival had served to make his defensive incumbents nervous during a shaky opening.

"Look that's part of professional football. The really good players will always challenge with the other players for a position and always help you," he said.

"We cannot go through a season with two centre-halves and say, 'hopefully nothing happens'. The third one is logical and if you have a fourth one it's even better.

"No player should and can play a whole season and a club like Liverpool need to react in a situation when a few of [the players] are maybe not at their top level or injured. That's what we did."

The former Borussia Dortmund boss added: "I don't think the boys were nervous because I am really happy about the development of these players. But we obviously have to fight and battle with the best teams in world football.

"We cannot go there with a group of 11 and be best friends every day. We need to have a squad which is ready for that and that is what we are building step by step."  

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.