Virgil van Dijk has been a major success on Merseyside since he forced his way out of Southampton in January.

The Dutch defender was being courted by a number of Premier League clubs before he agreed to join Liverpool.

After Van Dijk's transfer was finalised, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola told reporters that he wasn't interested in him.

Guardiola was asked if Van Dijk was a player he was looking at in January.

"Nope. No, no, no," the Spaniard responded, as per Goal.

Asked if he was interested in Van Dijk, Guardiola added: "No."

But, in the third episode of Amazon's behind-the-scenes Man City documentary, All or Nothing, it's revealed that the club were interested in signing Van Dijk.

Pep Guardiola asks Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the club’s chairman, Txiki Begiristain, the director of football, and the chief executive, Ferran Soriano, to sign a centre-back in the January transfer window.

Aymeric Laporte ended up joining for £57m from Athletic Bilbao but the Citizens were heavily linked to Van Dijk in the press.

It's now clear exactly why they missed out on the Dutchman's signature.

As per The Times: A scene from the episode shows Al-Mubarak turn to Begiristain and say: “Txiki, a central defender, come on what are we doing?” before Soriano interjects and says to Begiristain: “I told him about the price tag.”

The narrator, Ben Kingsley, then reveals: “City have inquired about Southampton central defender Virgil van Dijk but the price tag is proving an issue.”

The camera then cuts to Al-Mubarak speaking to Begiristain. “You can’t be serious,” he says twice.

While Man City refused to meet Southampton's valuation, Liverpool stumped up £75m to make Van Dijk the most expensive defender of all-time.

And his performances on the pitch have vindicated Jurgen Klopp's decision.

Did Man City make a big mistake baulking at Van Dijk's £75m price tag? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.