Warnock howler: CPFC will be having nightmares over "powerful" £49.5m-rated "mountain" - opinion

Crystal Palace showed during the previous summer transfer window they are capable of spending significant amounts of money on bringing new players to Selhurst Park.

The Eagles ended up splashing out significantly on their defence by signing Joachim Andersen from Lyon for around £20m and Marc Guehi from Chelsea for £18m.

However, one defender that the south London club weren’t so keen to spend money on and will now be thoroughly regretting is Virgil van Dijk.

According to former Palace manager Neil Warnock, he wanted to sign the Dutchman when he was playing at Celtic but was told by the hierarchy at Selhurst Park at the time that he was not worth the £6m transfer fee being touted for him as he was “too slow” and looked “too comfortable” in Scotland to be judged properly.

After making a £13m move from Celtic to Southampton in 2015, the centre-back scored seven goals in 80 appearances before joining his current club Liverpool in the 2018 January transfer window for a massive £75m.

Since then, the 30-year-old, who is currently valued at £49.5m according to Transfermarkt, has been a certified superstar for the Merseyside club, making 168 appearances with 16 goals and seven assists to his name.

During his time at Anfield, the former Hoops star has helped Jurgen Klopp’s side win the Premier League title and the Champions League in addition to beating the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the 2018/19 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award, highlighting the significant rise his career has taken since his days in Scotland.

Labelled as a “powerful” player by Erling Haaland, the defender has racked up a higher pass success percentage (89%) than any other Liverpool player to have started the majority of their Premier League