Virgil van Dijk had to wait longer than he wanted to, but Jurgen Klopp finally has his man after Southampton agreed to sell the centre-back to Liverpool for a staggering £75 million.
Liverpool were rightly criticised for botching the deal last summer, but lessons appear to have been learned and credit is due for the swiftness with which they have wrapped things up ahead of the January transfer window.
While the fee seems excessive for a defender, it only really comes into play if the player doesn't perform. If Van Dijk succeeds on the pitch and enjoys a long career on Merseyside then what he cost will soon be forgotten.
Klopp won't be fazed by any criticism of the fee as he must be getting used to it by now. Many believed he paid too much for Sadio Mane 18 months ago, and it was a similar story with Mohamed Salah last summer. Yet both players now look like bargains and have probably trebled their market value already.
The fixation on the Van Dijk fee is understandable from a media standpoint, but less so when it's Liverpool supporters who are expressing concern about it. Liverpool have not spent a great deal under Klopp, so the funds were there and they chose to spend it on a position that almost everyone would agree was a pressing need.
Not only that, they bought the best player available to fill that need. A player who would walk into any team in the Premier League yet chose to join the Reds despite interest from all the top clubs. When was the last time that happened?
Supporters should be savouring the moment, not wringing their hands about the fee. This is quite a coup for Liverpool, and that is not something we have been able to say too often in recent years. This is the age we live in, though; supporters complain when their club doesn't spend enough and then complain when they spend too much on one player.
There was a time when Liverpool rarely needed to do it this way, but harking back to that bygone age is pointless. Back when Liverpool were unearthing gems from Scunthorpe United or the local non-leagues, they did not have to compete with rival clubs who were cherry-picking superstars from around the globe.
The game has changed and while it is still possible to pick up a bargain (Philippe Coutinho cost £8m), you cannot exclusively rely on that, and when a player you really want becomes available, you have to pay what it takes to get him because if you don't, someone else will.
Liverpool dug deep to get Van Dijk because they see him as the cornerstone of their defence for the next 10 years. If that proves to be the case, then that works out at £7.5m a season. That's nothing really, particularly given the likelihood that transfer fees will continue to escalate.
Similar things were said and written when Manchester United shattered the world transfer record for a defender when they paid £30m to prise Ferdinand away from Leeds United in 2002. Fifteen years later that fee is still eye-watering in the context of that era, but there is no doubt that United club got their money's worth from Ferdinand.
Such a lofty price tag does bring intense scrutiny, though, and any mistake will be magnified. Ferdinand went through that in his early days with United, as did John Stones when he joined Manchester City from Everton for £49m last season. Stones made some early errors, and Pep Guardiola was forced to publicly speak out in support of the defender on more than one occasion.
Life is easier for Stones now, of course. The mistakes are less frequent, but it helps that his team are cruising towards the league title. That is a luxury Van Dijk will not have, and he comes into a team with a reputation for being vulnerable in defence. He will be expected to solve that, but one man alone will not prevent Liverpool from leaking goals.
Van Dijk won't suddenly turn the Reds into a watertight unit overnight, but he should certainly help them improve. Liverpool's current central defenders are often criticised, yet they are all good players. They aren't great ones though, and there is no "alpha dog" in Klopp's backline. Van Dijk changes all that.
He provides height, strength, pace, leadership and a playmaking ability that none of the current centre-backs have. It's easy to see why Klopp is so enamoured with him.
Some may argue that there are other good defenders out there who Liverpool could have signed for a lot less money. That may be true, but suggesting that Klopp should have bought one of those instead of Van Dijk is over simplifying things.
Klopp is not one to splash the cash lightly, so for him to invest so heavily in Van Dijk tells you that he sees the Dutchman as being exactly what his team needs. With any signing that should be the primary factor. For example, there are better strikers out there than Roberto Firmino, yet you'd be hard pressed to find anyone more suitable to lead Liverpool's attack than the Brazilian.
It's as much about signing the right player as it is getting the best player, but in Van Dijk, Liverpool may well have got both.