Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that his players will welcome the competition that imminent signing Virgil van Dijk will bring to the club.
Van Dijk will officially become a Liverpool player on Monday, completing a world-record £75m move from Southampton.
The Dutch centre-back was in attendance to watch his new team bounce back from an early defensive error to beat Leicester City 2-1 this afternoon, but Klopp does not believe that the mistake was down to nerves.
"That's part of professional football. The really good players will always say that the challenge with other players for a position in the team will always help you," he told reporters.
"We cannot go in a season with two centre-halves and hope nothing happens. The third one is already logical and if you have a fourth one then it's even better. I don't think the boys were nervous. I couldn't see anything like that.
"They don't have any reason to be nervous because I'm really happy about the development of these players. But we have to obviously fight and battle with the biggest teams in world football, so we cannot go there with a group of 11 and being best friends every day."
In addition to becoming the most expensive defender of all time, Van Dijk will also become the most expensive January signing and Liverpool's club-record buy once he completes his switch.
Barney Corkhill
