Arsenal: Was a bullet dodged with Virgil Van Dijk transfer?

Yesterday, Liverpool bought Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton, for a world record fee (for a defender) of £75m. Did Arsenal dodge a bullet or miss a world beater?

Liverpool really splashed the cash yesterday with the signing of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton. Arsenal had been linked to the Dutch defender in the summer, but he was not permitted to leave. The Reds wasted no time in locking up this world-record signing before the January window had even opened.

The question we all want to know is – would he have fit in at Arsenal?

I think he would be a great addition to any team, as he’s such a good defender. What sets him apart, though, is his ability to carry the ball forward to start attacks. Only a handful of defenders can do that with confidence.

Javier Mascherano and Sergio Ramos can do it, but they were converted center-backs, Javier played defensive midfield while the latter played right-back.

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Virgil has been a constant in the Southampton side since joining from Celtic in 2015. He has been heavily linked to all the “top six” teams, but Liverpool have finally acted upon it. He has made a total of 67 appearances for Southampton, being the most consistent player in that side. He enjoyed his most fruitful spell alongside Jose Fonte, who has now moved on to West Ham.

Arsenal were heavily linked with him in the summer and we were yet again linked with him this month. We have more recently been linked to the like of Medhi Benatia and Daniele Rugani, the latter I would really like to see at the Emirates.

We need a defender this January and whether it be for now or for the future we just need someone to replace Per Mertesacker when he does decide to retire. Benatia for £35m doesn’t sound like a good option as he’s 30 and nearing the end of his career.

We have too many of those types of players anyways. A player like Rugani could set us up for the next ten years but so could van Dijk as he’s only 26.

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In conclusion, I think we have dodged a bullet as van Dijk was far too expensive for us and we need to be looking for cheaper, younger options to fill our ranks. In five years, will he still be around? Probably. But he’ll be 31 and Rugani will be 27. We’ve already “missed” one target, we now have some decisions to make.

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