Jurgen Klopp's warning about spending big money on a player only for them to suffer an injury has unfortunately come true for him.
Liverpool manager Klopp previously spoke out about the risk clubs take when they splash the cash on a single player rather than on building a team.
Klopp made the comments after Manchester United paid a then world-record £89million on France international Paul Pogba.
Klopp said: "If you bring one player in for £100million and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney.
"The day that this is football, I'm not in a job anymore, because the game is about playing together. That is how everybody in football understands it.
"You always want to have the best, but building the group is necessary to be successful.
"Other clubs can go out and spend more money and collect top players. I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money."
Klopp splashed the cash on Van Dijk back in 2018, parting with a huge £75million.
The centre-back has been instrumental in Liverpool winning both the Champions League and Premier League in the past two seasons.
But the defender suffered an ACL injury in the Merseyside derby and is facing up to nine months in the treatment room.
Liverpool will have to defend their crown this campaign without their star turn.
But Klopp, whose warning about Pogba has come back to haunt him, has taken his own advice on board, and is confident his team can pull together in Van Dijk's absence.
The German is backing Joel Matip and Joe Gomez to strike up an impenetrable partnership.
"They [Matip and Gomez] can play together – not a shadow of a doubt," said Klopp.
"As I said for the Fabinho and Joe pairing, they need to get used to each other and the full-backs need to get used to them.
"The more stability you have in this line, the better. We never had that really, especially one position was always with a lot of changes. They will fight together, there is no doubt about that.
"It is football and it didn't become rocket science overnight. We can help them with information but then they will get tested every three days, that's the situation."
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