Liverpool hopes pricey Van Dijk fuels their rise

Liverpool hosts Leicester City today as the in-form Reds look to continue their climb up the table.

Liverpool served notice this week the club is not messing around, with news of a worldrecord signing for Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk.

The 26-year-old will join Liverpool in January for a reported $127 million, the most ever paid for a defender. That’s more than $40 million more than Van Dijk was being valued at during the summer transfer market.

The Dutch international hasn’t been having a good season at Southampton, so you have to wonder if Liverpool could have found a better value defender elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Leicester City has been showing occasional flashes of the club’s old championship season form since new boss Claude Puel took over. But there have also been enough lapses to keep the team firmly among the middletable sides, with a place in Europe still looking slightly out of reach.

Under the circumstances, it’s strange Puel didn’t field a stronger side for Leicester’s recent League Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester City, in which the Foxes lost on penalties.

Liverpool comes into today’s game in fourth place, while Leicester is in eighth.

DERBY DAYS

It’s an Old Firm derby today as Glasgow Celtic hosts the Rangers. With an eight-point lead in the standings, Celtic looks to be cruising to yet another Scottish title.

Down in third place, Rangers are long shots to challenge for the lead, but a chance to beat their old enemies is more than enough incentive to be up for this match.

Since returning to the Scottish Premiership in 2016, Rangers have yet to notch a win against Celtic.

A key player for Rangers is young attacker Josh Windass. He’s the son of English striker Dean Windass, who played many years in the Premier League and Championship, mostly with Hull and Bradford City.

Josh is normally a midfielder, but he’s not very good at coming back to defend.

That’s why he’s been given more of an attacking role this season, playing in support of young Colombian striker Alfredo Morelos. It’s been working out well, with Windass chipping in some key goals.

Morelos started the season red hot, then fell into a long goalless drought, but has recently rediscovered his scoring touch.

Whether it will be enough to take down high-flying Celtic is another question.

TABLE TOPPERS

The top two teams in the Championship go head-to-head today as in-form Bristol City hosts league leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The team leading the table on New Year’s Day has gone on to earn promotion to the Premier League in each of the past 12 seasons. That’s welcome news for the Wolves, who hold an eight-point lead heading into this game.

City has been shooting up the table with five wins and a draw in the team’s last six league games. That’s despite a roster hit hard by injuries.

The Robins also pulled off one of the upsets of the year last Wednesday, knocking Manchester United out of the League Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 win.

It was the fourth consecutive victory over Premier League sides that City has posted in an impressive cup run.

JOURNEYMAN

Local fans may remember German goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel, who held the world record for playing for 25 different professional clubs in his globe-trotting career. That included one season (2007) in Vancouver with Whitecaps FC.

Amazingly, Pfannenstiel’s record has now been broken by 41-yearold Uruguayan striker Sebastian Abreu, who recently signed for his 26th club, Audax Italiano of the Chilean first division.

While Pfannenstiel wandered the globe, playing for teams in all six of FIFA’s confederations, Abreu has stayed closer to home, spending most of his career in South America, Central America and Mexico. He did have a few stints in Europe, playing in Spain for Deportivo La Coruna and Real Sociedad, as well as in Greece and Israel. He also racked up 70 appearances for Uruguay’s national team.

Pfannenstiel, now 44, retired from play several years ago, after finishing his career in Namibia. He is now head of scouting for German club Hoffenheim, seemingly with no plans to come out of retirement to reclaim his old record.