Liverpool are on the verge of signing Thiago Alcantara as they look to strengthen for this season’s Premier League title defence.
With last season’s celebrations now a thing of the past, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp knows his team needs a bit of a “kopskiet” to add some energy to the squad and has reportedly struck a deal with Champions League winners Bayern Munich for the £25m transfer of the Spain international.
According to reports, the 29-year-old Barcelona academy graduate will sign a four-year deal and wear the No.6 jersey.
While Liverpool dot the Is and cross the Ts on that deal, Klopp is preparing his league champions for their first big test at pretenders Chelsea this Sunday.
And star defender Virgil van Dijk reckons just a kopskiet won’t be enough for them to hold on to their title. They will need consistency to win back-to-back titles after claiming 196 points in their last two seasons.
The star Dutch centreback says: “Consistency is the most difficult thing in football – to keep doing it week in, week out. Year after year. And that’s something that we try to achieve.
“The season has just started with one game in and the season is going to be so long, so we’re not looking what’s going to happen at the end of the year, we are just focused about what’s happening at this case now.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea new boy Timo Werner is keen for his head-to-head with Van Dijk as he looks to open his league scoring account and fire the Blues past Liverpool this weekend and at the end of the season.
He says: “Liverpool are one of the best teams in the world. They won the league last year and have the same team so they will be as strong as last year.
“So it will be a really good challenge for us to test how far we are.
“We try our best to win the game and we want to win every game.
“We have a strong opponent and they have good players, not just Virgil van Dijk.”
Weekend Prem fixtures
Tomorrow
Man United v Crystal Palace (6.30pm)
Arsenal v West Ham (9pm)
Everton v West Brom (1.30pm)
Leeds v Fulham (4pm)
Sunday
Southampton v Tottenham (1pm)