8 alternatives were named to Van Dijk in 2017 – Here's what happened to them

Kalidou Koulibaly

• Like Van Dijk, the Napoli man is powerful and composed on the ball and has also attracted interest from some of the Premier League's top clubs over the years, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, among others.
• Koulibaly would probably have been the next best option after Van Dijk, had we chosen an alternative.

Stefan de Vrij

• De Vrij is an international team-mate of van Dijk, was also of interest to decision-makers at Anfield as per Sky Italia in 2017.
• The report went as far as suggesting Liverpool had £20m pound bid rejected by Lazio for a player that Liverpool saw as tall, strong, and robust.
• The defender has since moved to Inter Milan and become a regular feature of Antonio Conte's title-chasing side.

Michael Keane

• Keane was linked with Liverpool due to his time at Burnley by The Independent but ended up going to local rivals Everton.
• While he is still a good player, Keane has never shown the capabilities to lead the defence of a side aiming to win the biggest trophies.

Jonathan Tah

• The robust yet agile Tah was seen as an ideal candidate to slot in alongside Joel Matip by many Liverpool supporters back in 2017, but Tah has remained at Bayer Leverkusen.

Kostas Manolas

• Manolas was another centre-back based in Italy linked by Sky Italia with a switch to Anfield in 2017
• The Greek defender is now at Napoli but his greatest moment came in 2018 when his late header helped Roma knock Barcelona out of the Champions League.

Davinson Sanchez

• A move for Sanchez was seen at the time as a slightly risky one due to his age as Liverpool were 'happy to let him go to Spurs' as per Dominic King of the Daily Mail.
• Now 24, Sanchez has been in and out of the Tottenham squad this season after completing a move worth over £40m back in 2017.

Inigo Martinez

• Comfortable on the ball, Martinez, who was at Real Sociedad at the time, has since moved back to his home team Athletic Bilbao.
• Linked to Liverpool by the Express [among others], Martinez has never really hit the heights that were expected of him, however.

Mamadou Sakho

• Sakho was exiled by Klopp in the summer of 2017 and later sold to Crystal Palace.
• The Frenchman was unconventional but effective at Liverpool but has never quite played at the quality needed to get into the current Reds side.