Virgil van Dijk has to win trophies for Liverpool and be the club’s No 1 centre-back for the next decade, according to former Reds defender Jamie Carragher.
Van Dijk will complete a move to Liverpool on January 1 after the club agreed a £75m deal to sign the Netherlands international from Southampton.
The agreed fee for Van Dijk would represent a world-record sum for a defender, topping Manchester City's deal to sign Kyle Walker in July.
Carragher believes Van Dijk must bring silverware to Anfield and says the 26-year-old must emulate former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, who previously held the title of the world's most expensive defender.
"I think there is a dearth of top-class centre-backs throughout world football hence why so many clubs wanted him and the transfer fee is so high," said Carragher.
"People will look at the transfer that normally strikers go for but as with any transfer fee if he performs well and does his job it will be worth it.
"The one centre-back when the transfer fee felt so huge at the time was 15 years ago when Rio Ferdinand went to Manchester United.
"But he repaid that. He was Manchester United's top centre-back, won trophies and was there for 10 years.
"That is what Van Dijk has to do, take Liverpool to trophies and be Liverpool's No 1 centre-back for the next decade or so."