Many pundits were critical of Liverpool's decision to spend £75 million on Virgil van Dijk in January.

Liverpool were considered to have paid way over the odds for the Southampton man, with Gary Neville noting in December that the transfer fee was 'incredible'.

"It's a lot of money!" Neville said on Sky Sports. "When I first heard it I thought 'wow, £75m'. I'm not surprised by the actual transfer but that is an incredible amount of money.

"It sounds like a fantastic deal for Southampton. 

"Liverpool have to get the defence right, in the bigger matches they do stress quite quickly and can crack, so from their point of view, paying that sort of money hopefully it pays off, but for Southampton they would snap your hand off for £75m."

VAN DIJK PROVES JAMIE CARRAGHER WRONG

Van Dijk was a long-term target for the Reds, with Jurgen Klopp's side failing to get a deal over the line last summer.

But he has been an extremely good acquisition since arriving. Liverpool have conceded just seven goals in their last 14 games, a run that includes nine clean sheets.

A lot of that has to go down to the acquisition of Van Dijk, who has transformed the side's defence.

In the process he has proven a number of pundits wrong: including Jamie Carragher.

Carragher was sceptical of Klopp making a move for Van Dijk in August, claiming that he would not make any difference to Liverpool's defence.

After Liverpool conceded three against Watford on the opening day of the season, Carragher said: "It’s the set up from the manager. They concede the most goals out of anyone in the top six. Nothing has changed.

"One man is not going to [make a difference], the position of the full-backs in general play leaves the centre-backs exposed.

"Liverpool play so high and wide that they have a centre-back exposed there all the time. One player’s not going to change that.

"Van Dijk better than [Lovren and Matip] and that's why he's [valued at] £50 or £60m, but it doesn't matter how good a centre-back is, they are being exposed."

CARRAGHER ECHOED THOSE COMMENTS IN JANUARY

And Carragher made very similar comments in January when Van Dijk made a mistake for Liverpool against Swansea, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Premier League strugglers.

"This thing about Van Dijk is going to come in and fix this problem, it is absolute nonsense," Carraher explained. "That one player comes in and fixes the whole problem, he's not that good."

Awkward. Carragher could not have been any more wrong.

Van Dijk has been sensational in recent weeks as Liverpool have emerged into one of the most feared teams in Europe.

Liverpool's drastic improvement in defence has seen them through to the Champions League semi-finals, as well as maintaining their spot on the Premier League top four.

A lot of that success has been down to Van Dijk.

Carragher is definitely regretting these comments based on his and Liverpool's form in recent months.