Virgil van Dijk has proven to be a £75 million bargain.

His influence since signing for the Reds in January 2018 has been quite unbelievable.

His signing was the catalyst for Liverpool's defence to transform from a liability to a strength.

With Van Dijk at the back, Liverpool had the best defence in the Premier League last season as they conceded just 22 times in 38 games.

He was critical as Liverpool won the European Cup for the sixth time, while he nearly helped his national team to the UEFA Nations League title.

He's now regarded as the best defender in the world and rightly so.

Having impressed so much in the past year and a half, surely every side in the world would want to sign the 28-year-old.

And that includes Barcelona.

The Catalan giants are looking for a centre-back to play alongside Gerard Pique next season.

With Samuel Umtiti nearing the exit door and having seemingly failed in a move for Matthijs de Ligt, Barca are now looking at alternative targets.

And, according to John Cross of the Mirror, they even tried to make a cheeky approach for Van Dijk but were quickly shut down.

"Do not expect it to happen for a moment, but Barcelona made enquiries about whether Virgil van Dijk could be tempted to leave Liverpool," he writes.

"They were quickly given short shrift by the Dutch defender’s representatives. They did not bother taking it further."

That will come as a relief to Liverpool fans.

Barca have a history of signing players from the Merseyside club.

More recently, they signed Luis Suarez from the Reds in 2014, before unsettling and then signing Philippe Coutinho in January 2018.

The Brazilian claimed that signing for Barcelona was his 'dream' and he even handed in a transfer request in order to seal the move.

While Van Dijk seems happy to stay at Liverpool for the moment, the club's fans will be praying he doesn't follow the same path as Coutinho...