Football: Jurgen Klopp: I don't like paying NZ$140M for Virgil van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk will join Liverpool from Southampton for a record fee. Photo / Actionplus/Photosport

Liverpool announced the signing of Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk this week, but manager Jurgen Klopp isn't overly happy about it.

The Reds paid an astonishing £75 million (NZ$140 million) for the Dutch defender, setting a new record for the transfer of a defender.

Despite having been said to want Van Dijk in his side for a while now, Klopp said it was 'not nice' to pay that kind of money, but he believed Liverpool had to adapt to the transfer market to compete.

Klopp had previously criticised outlandish fees, but having made Van Dijk the most expensive defender in history, he attempted to explain his change of approach.

"I'm surprised about the development in the last two years, let me say, because there were big steps. But the last half a year changed pretty much everything and we, as a club, cannot change that," Klopp said.

"Of course, not each club would be able to do it, but a lot of clubs are able to do it and will do it in the future. How the market always is, it's all about the need and the opportunity.

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"If you want to sign a player, the last thing I think about actually is the price, to be honest – not because I like throwing money around, it's only because we are thinking about the player. There's one moment when you get the price and then you have to accept it or not.

"It's a big change in football in the last few months and years. We have to adapt to it. That's how it is. It changed already and it doesn't now mean that all transfers will now be in this category, but it's the same how it was before. Half a year ago, I think, there was a big transfer for an offensive player and now we have a big transfer for a defensive player."

Liverpool may allow some big names to go in January – both Daniel Sturridge and Danny Ings are of interest to several Premier League clubs – but the manager said he has no intention of weakening his squad.

"The first thing we have to make sure is that we have the squad we need for the second part of the season," he said.

"We had a good situation so far in the squad and that's what we need to have again in the second half of the season.

"Usually you make an agreement for a year. I know players have longer contracts and stuff like that, but that's how it is. Everything can happen in a big transfer window in the summer. Usually you make an agreement for a year and the player has the time to train and play that good so it makes sense that he stays here.

"We have a few young players [where] it's quite different, to be honest. We have to see what we do there. With all the rest, we will see that the club's interest is first, 100 per cent. We need to make sure that we have enough players for different situations.

"The perfect situation is that for both sides it's really good or perfect for the player and the club. But if not, then the club needs to come first. We will see what happens. Nothing is decided so far. There's interest in players of us, but if we agree or not -- no decision so far."