Virgil van Dijk warned Harry Maguire that his move to Manchester United means pressure after becoming the world s most expensive defender.
Maguire swapped Leicester City for Premier League giants United in a world-record deal reportedly worth £80million following months of speculation.
The England international, who signed a six-year contract with the option of a further season at Old Trafford, and his transfer to United is believed to have surpassed the £75m Liverpool paid Southampton for Van Dijk in January 2018.
Van Dijk, who led Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2018-19, knows the pressure associated with huge price tags and he had advice for Maguire.
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Good luck to him, he said. I can t say anything about that because there was always going to be a time when it was going to change.
That s the market. He doesn t have any influence on that but I wish him well. The price comes with pressure, but it doesn t change too much because you always have pressure at big clubs like Man United. But I wish him well.
Just focus on doing what you love to do and play your best game, Van Dijk said when asked how he coped with the pressure of a hefty price tag. Get your qualities out of the pitch, enjoy your game and don t think about the other things.
It is not easy to completely shut off all the pressure. Personally, I like to put things in perspective. Quite a lot of things are more important than playing football and what we do, we are blessed.
We can do what we love to do and also to play for Liverpool – they are such a big club. You need to enjoy it but the pressure will always be there.
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