{"id":702126,"date":"2026-01-17T12:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702126\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:54:16","slug":"phil-jones-says-liverpool-made-a-22m-signing-that-was-better-than-getting-virgil-van-dijk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702126\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Jones says Liverpool made a \u00a322m signing that was better than getting Virgil van Dijk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool fans probably wish they could complete another January signing as good as Virgil van Dijk this month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Dutchman arrived from Southampton to become Liverpool\u2019s most expensive January transfer of all time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the winter of 2026, however, FSG have been keeping their powder dry and have watched on as Marc Guehi prepares to join Manchester City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Who should be Liverpool\u2019s top centre-back target after missing out on Marc Guehi? <\/p>\n

\"MickyPhoto Credit: Getty Images\/Sebastian Frej\/Marco Luzzani <\/p>\n

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As has been reported, Liverpool are having a quiet January<\/a>, which is often commonplace under their current owners.<\/p>\n

However, the club does dip into the mid-season market occasionally to sign some top players.<\/p>\n

Phil Jones ranks Luis Suarez ahead of Virgil van Dijk<\/p>\n

Among them is former FC Barcelona hitman Luis Suarez<\/a>, who joined from Ajax in 2011 for around \u00a322.7m, as per the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, while ranking the best-ever January signings for Sports Illustrated<\/a>, Phil Jones has put Suarez in his number one spot and Van Dijk<\/a> third.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cSuarez. I think he made an incredible impact. The goals he scored. What he did for Liverpool, you know, completely changed the way they moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cVan Dijk, he\u2019s been brilliant. Pains me to put the two Liverpool players in there, but I\u2019ve got to be honest, I think he\u2019s been an absolute unit at the back.<\/p>\n

Jones was then asked: \u201cMore impact than Suarez if you\u2019re going to rank them?\u201d<\/p>\n

To which the former centre-back replied: \u201cNo, I think Suarez had a bigger impact. That\u2019s why I\u2019m trying to work it out in my head. But no, I think Van Dijk has had such a great impact. Okay, maybe he\u2019s not played to that level in the last sort of year, 15 months. He\u2019s still a huge character, still a huge figure in the dressing room.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will Liverpool turn things around if they fail to get Champions League football in 25\/26? <\/p>\n

Arne Slot expressed concern about missing out on top-tier European football in his pre-Burnley press conference<\/p>\n

\"LiverpoolCredit: Shaun Brooks \u2013 CameraSport\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

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What does Luis Suarez do now?<\/p>\n

After leaving Liverpool in 2014, the now 38-year-old went on to form a lethal front three at Barcelona alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar.<\/p>\n

Suarez then returned to South America in 2022 before once again linking up with Messi at Inter Miami two years later.<\/p>\n

The former Liverpool ace remains on the MLS outfit\u2019s books to this day, most recently helping them win the MLS Cup in their latest season.<\/p>\n

In total, Suarez has scored 42 and assisted 29 in 87 appearances for the North American side.<\/p>\n

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Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool fans probably wish they could complete another January signing as good as Virgil van Dijk this month.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,75145,16,15,1465],"class_list":["post-702126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-luis-suarez","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-virgil-van-dijk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115910545572457579","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}