Virgil van Dijk has predicted a “big summer” of transfer activity for Liverpool.

The Dutch captain was in good spirits after scoring a late-winner against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon and even exchanged some friendly banter with Mohamed Salah about his new contract.

Much like his teammate, Van Dijk is heavily expected to agree a fresh two-year deal in the coming days – although any announcement is set to drop after the 36th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy on Tuesday.

Salah put his decision to stay on Merseyside down the club’s aspirations and ability to compete for football’s top prizes. Van Dijk echoed this sentiment before stressing the need to build from a position of strength.

“I think Liverpool should be able to challenge for titles in the upcoming years,” Van Dijk told reporters after his club closed to within two wins of Premier League glory.

“Whatever happens in terms of players going out, players coming in, I think it should be a big summer. I think they’re planning to make it a big summer, so we all have to trust the board, as a Liverpool connected fan, to do the right job.”

Liverpool spent a miserly total of £36.2m in this season’s transfer windows, most of which was committed to the acquisition of Giorgi Mamardashvili who won’t arrive from Valencia until this summer. A staggering total of 72 clubs outspent the Reds this term. 28 different players cost more than the club’s total outlay.

Arne Slot has been more cautious when discussing Liverpool’s transfer business this summer. The Dutch head coach admitted that the Reds remain “ambitious” but downplayed the need to make a flurry of high-profile recruits.

“There’s not so many reasons to make it a busy one because we are quite well placed in the league and we have only lost in the Champions League against an incredible side which we were better than for 90 minutes at our stadium,” Slot pointedly noted.

Yet, the 46-year-old did concede that any business which Liverpool do conduct has been made far easier by new contracts for his star players.

“If I put myself in the shoes of a player we might want to sign, it’s always nice to tell them that Mo has extended his contract,” Slot predicted. “That helps but what helps the most is that we kept a quality player who has scored for seven or eight years in a row so many goals for us.”