Football news - Splendid Virgil van Dijk could play as a striker for Liverpool

If you buy cheap, you buy twice. Or in Liverpool’s particular plight of failing to shore up an unhinged defence over years of refusal in the Premier League, you buy over and over again hoping to end the seemingly eternal scourge of cheap goals.

In Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool have unloaded £75m on some sort of elegant elixir. It is a heady brew.

Landing Van Dijk from Southampton was buying twice, but also buying cheap when you consider the varied Van Dijk's multi-faceted wares. In the end, it was all about purchasing class. And in the delightful Van Dijk, they possess one of the most technically gifted proponents of the world game, a player with more spring in his step than a stag and the pace of Ballyregan Bob. He is at one with the football and the demands of the modern game.

Van Dijk, captain of the Netherlands, warmed up for the 2-2 draw with Germany in the Nations League on Monday by jumping around with more menace than the House of Pain before inflicting pain on the home side by arrowing an equaliser into the German rigging that made him look like a natural born predator.

It is debatable if Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino or Mohamed Salah would have displayed similar composure in such a do-or-die moment knowing advancement in the Nations League was on the line.

It was of little surprise to learn that the Dutch coach Ronald Koeman had already rolled out plans to catapult Van Dijk up top alongside the PSV Eindhoven forward Luuk de Jong. The power, physique and leadership of Van Dijk warrants a manager's trust. He had previously scored against Germany last month so it is not as if the home side were not given fair warning.

Van Dijk is not only a central defender, but also a midfielder and a striker when needed. He just happens to play central defence when he could easily be deployed further up the field.

If you are the Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, there must be a temptation to experiment when you possess such powers. It is certainly worth considering the merits of attempting to utilise Van Dijk in a more offensive role for a team which already has such a stinging edge to it.

But the only drawback is you could partner Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren in central defence, and leave a Van Dijk-shaped hole in the defence. Still, at the age of 27, it continues to feel like Van Dijk is underused as a defender, a role he could arguably revert to as the years advance.

When asked about the Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, who he faced in the Champions League final last season, Van Dijk said: "Myself, I don’t like to defend in the way Ramos does. I try to avoid the situations he gets into, and don’t even try to make slide tackles."

Slide tackles are a game of risk as Van Dijk learned when he tried to clip Leroy Sane in the 0-0 draw with Manchester City in early October that forced the concession of a penalty that Riyad Mahrez would contrive to miss.

"It was a decision I made and hopefully it will be the last time I make that decision at that time," said Van Dijk.

He is a stopper and a provider. Liverpool have haemorrhaged only five goals this season to lie second in the Premier League standings, two points behind Manchester City. Much of their success has been built upon the moorings that Van Dijk has erected in coping with cross balls and those ghastly shortcomings at set-pieces.

“We’ve been saying for a while he’s the best centre-back in the Premier League: I think he is actually one of the best players in the league," said the former Liverpool centre-half Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports.

If Van Dijk was moved into the midfield area, would he offer Liverpool less than Jordan Henderson at the heart of midfield? His free-kicks hit the mark better than a trip to an Amsterdam coffee shop.

There is a clip of Van Dijk during his time at Celtic easing past a Partick Thistle defender like he is not there a few years back. It was decried it as a farce by the ill-informed because it was the Scottish Premiership. It is a delusion that has been dismissed since his transfer to Southampton in 2014. He can amble past England's leading players when the mood takes him.

Many were unconvinced he could do it in the Premier League. Nobody should be unconvinced that in Van Dijk, Liverpool possess arguably the most durable and best all-round player in world football.

As melodramatic as it many sound, for £75m, Liverpool have yet to bottom out. Van Dijk could yet offer them more value for money.