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Reports that Barcelona's attempts to lure Virgil van Dijk from Liverpool were swiftly brushed aside in a nonchalant fashion attest to the position of strength the Reds now find themselves in.

Since making his £75million switch from Southampton to Anfield in January 2018 – half a season after the club emphatically pulled the plug on their pursuit of him – the Dutchman has transformed both the structure and the fortunes of Jurgen Klopp's side.

It may have taken a world-record fee for a defender to bring Van Dijk to Liverpool but he has clearly been worth every penny.

Almost overnight, his mere presence in the Reds back four brought added assurance and confidence to those around him and supplemented last summer with the addition of Alisson , the team have become a very different beast, one that is capable of accumulating 97 points over a Premier League season and ultimately lifting the Champions League.

(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Such commanding performances will inevitably prompt admiring glances from other big clubs so it comes as no surprise that Barcelona supposedly quite fancied the idea of having such a colossus to marshal their own backline.

However, the Mirror's chief football writer John Cross reports that their overtures were swiftly dismissed, declaring: “Do not expect it to happen for a moment, but Barcelona made enquiries about whether Virgil van Dijk could be tempted to leave Liverpool.

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

Such vignettes demonstrate a significant shift in the balance of power when it comes to Liverpool's position in football's food chain.

For many years the Reds have been well-positioned near the top, you could probably count the number of clubs above them in the pecking order on one hand, but there were often a select few they had to be wary of, namely Spain's big two, the aforementioned Barcelona and their great rivals, Real Madrid.

As recently as 18 months ago – in the same transfer window that Van Dijk arrived – Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.

(Image: Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

Anfield chiefs were savy enough to negotiate a substantial package that could be worth up to £142million for the Brazilian and crucially bolted on clauses that would force the Catalan giants to pay a premium on any future Reds raids – making potential bids for the likes of Van Dijk even more problematic for them – but this was still an example of a player departing the club for what was seen, in his eyes at least, as career advancement.

Indeed, Coutinho journeyed down a well-trodden path in recent years from Anfield to the Camp Nou, following fellow South Americans Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez .

The 21st century has also witnessed the likes of Michael Owen and Xabi Alonso making moves from Merseyside to Madrid, although in the case of the latter it was more a change of personal circumstances under the manager than a burning desire to supposedly better himself.

It's not just a modern phenomenon though. Even in the aftermath of Liverpool's first European Cup success in 1977, Kevin Keegan defected to Hamburg while in the 1980s the Reds lost captain Graeme Souness to Sampdoria and Ian Rush to Juventus – even though the prolific Welsh striker quickly returned and would go on to become the club's all-time leading goalscorer.

(Image: Action Images)

Playing on the continent often presented a couple key incentives for players that England could not offer at the time: Extra cash and the opportunity to be schooled in a more-refined style of play.

Fast forward to 2019 and the Premier League is awash with cash and home to a cosmopolitan cast of some of the world's most-gifted players.

Given that, along with champions Manchester City who pipped them to the title by a single point, Liverpool are at the very top of that tree, there is little incentive to go anywhere else.

Playing for the Reds also offers, unlike a potential switch to the Etihad, a genuine European pedigree as the team's exploits in reaching the last two Champions League finals has demonstrated.

Both City and Paris St Germain must concede there are some things those petrodollars just can't buy.

Also there are the added bonuses of playing for a coach like Klopp who has a reputation for developing and improving even top players that is second to none and representing a hugely-passionate fanbase.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

It's not just been Van Dijk who has registered on the radar of Spain's big two in recent months with all of Liverpool's prolific front three being linked at various times.

But rather than just presenting a gargantuan offer that neither player or club can refuse, it seems that attempts by Barcelona and Real Madrid to prise such valuable assets away are becoming increasingly ham-fisted as the thought of departing Anfield to join them has lost much of its lustre.

Take the latest proposed harebrained scheme mooted this week along the lines of a part-exchange deal in which Liverpool would supposedly part with £67million PLUS Sadio Mane , a forward whose career-high 22 goals earned him a share of the Premier League Golden Boot last season, just to get Marco Asensio, a player who operates in a similar position but netted just once in La Liga last term.

(Image: Photo by Erwin Spek/Soccrates/Getty Images)

It also smacks of desperation from the Spaniards and is indicative of a considerably-altered landscape.

Last November, Klopp spoke of his desire to make Liverpool a final destination for the game's elite.

He said: “As a club we have to be like there is no need to leave from the sports side.

“We really have a lot to offer. The club is trying everything to do things differently.”

One European Cup and a record-breaking domestic points haul later and he appears to have achieved such a Holy Grail.