Former Liverpool captain Paul Ince says the club will struggle to keep their star players if they becomes targets of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The Reds have lost Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho to Barca in the past.

And Ince thinks the likes of Virgil van Dijk could join the Spanish giants in the future.

Ince told the Liverpool Echo: "I think what they're doing is great - the players and Klopp - but great teams win trophies year in year out.

"They've got a big chance to do that but we'll need to look back in a few years to see what they've done to say that was a great Liverpool team.

"Obviously it's now a question of how they get better in the future, it's tough because they've got some young exciting players who are only going to improve but in football things change - we saw that with Philippe Coutinho, suddenly someone like Barcelona comes in and they're off.

"It's a case of keeping the best players at Liverpool.

"Will someone come in for Van Dijk? When Barcelona or Real Madrid come knocking it's hard to say no.

"That's the thing about being a victim of your own success, when you're doing so many great things like Liverpool are doing it alerts other big clubs like Barcelona or Madrid. It's hard to say no as a player when they come in."