Alan Shearer believes Liverpool are a stronger unit with Virgil Van Dijk leading at the back, but there is further work to be done untl the club can be challenging at the very top.
Van Dijk will prove to be good business for The Reds
The former-Newcastle player thinks the world-record fee of £75million for a defender will prove to be good investment from Jürgen Klopp.
"There's no doubt he [Van Dijk] will make a difference," Shearer told Coral. "He's a good defender, he'll shore them up."
Van Dijk has already made quite the impression at his new club, having scored the winning goal against rivals Everton in the FA Cup on his debut. Heading home in front of the Kop, it was the perfect script for the Dutchman after his highly anticipated move to Merseyside and Klopp will be hoping he can continue in similar vein ahead of a crunch tie with Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
Liverpool need more to answer all their problems, though
However, Van Dijk's arrival will not solve all Liverpool's woes and Shearer was quick to warn fans that more pieces are needed for Klopp's side to mount any kind of challenge on Manchester City or in Europe.
"He won't be the answer to all their problems. I still think they need one or two more players in that squad, particularly a goalkeeper."
The Reds have been linked to Roma 'keeper Allison this month as a possible replacement for the patchy Simon Mignolet. It's widely known that Liverpool lack the quality in goal that their rivals possess; Chelsea have Courtois, United have De Gea, Spurs have Lloris and City spent big to bring in Ederson. All four goalkeepers produce some brilliant stops week in week out to win points for their side while Mignolet has been known to hinder Liverpool's hunt for a top-four finish. The 3-3 draw with Arsenal provides a perfect example, with the Belgian international caught out from long-range by a strike from Granit Xhaka before failing to close down Mesut Ozil and tighten the angles.
Thus, the arrival of a new goalkeeper would serve Liverpool well in their bid to strengthen the core spine of the squad. Naby Keita and Virgil Van Dijk represent stark improvements on the current players, but without a world-class goalkeeper in their ranks, Liverpool will still remain a step behind where they want to be.