Virgil van Dijk can solve £83m Liverpool problem this weekend

Very few people are fans of calendar year stats at the best of times, but a look at the Premier League table for 2022 certainly makes for interesting reading ahead of this weekend. Liverpool are top of the tree, with 12 wins and two draws from their 14 matches, and second – albeit they’ve played twice more than Manchester City – are Newcastle United.

As they were above only Norwich in the league table as 2021 drew to a close, that’s an impressive upturn in form for the Magpies. That’s partly down to them having hired a more adventurous and modern coach, with Eddie Howe having replaced Steve Bruce in late November, but more down to the lavish spending implemented by their wealthy new owners in January.

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A club which had made a net transfer spend of approximately £99million in the preceding four seasons splashed out £83million in one window. It’s hardly a surprise that results improved.

There will no doubt be further big sums spent in the years ahead too. But Liverpool can’t