Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Liverpool have spent well in paying £75 million for Virgil van Dijk, because he thinks high-quality players work out cheaper in the long run.

Guardiola was interested in signing Van Dijk from Southampton, but missed out after Liverpool agreed a deal on Wednesday, with the player making the move officially when the transfer window opens on January 1.

City’s manager has spent heavily on defenders himself since his arrival at the Etihad Stadium in July 2016.

Before the start of this season, he brought in Benjamin Mendy from Monaco in a deal that could be worth £52 million, Kyle Walker from Tottenham for an initial £45 million, and Danilo from Real Madrid for £26.5 million.

That came a year after he spent £47.5 million on signing England centre-back John Stones away from Everton.
“Liverpool took an amazing player,” said Guardiola.

“Van Dijk is an exceptional central defender, that’s a price we’ll see (again) in the future. Sometimes the cheaper players are more expensive than the expensive players. If he played six or seven years at a high level it would be cheap. If he played not well, more expensive.

“John Stones, when he came here, people said he was too expensive. Now he’s too cheap. It always depends on the value of what happens on the pitch.”