Italian journalist Gabrielle Marcotti claims that Virgil Van Dijk agreed deals with two of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
The respected paparazzo has given his insight into the summer-long transfer saga involving Southampton’s key defender, claiming that deals were in place for him to move, but clubs were unable to manufacture a move.
Liverpool were believed to have been closing on a deal for the Dutch defender, before the Saints turned on them and forced the club to apologise for supposed tapping up, and the other clubs are also claimed to have gone to the agent before talking to the club.
This is against the rules, as talking to players about moves has to be permitted by his club, and the story insists that no formal offers were made due to the way the pursuits were made.
As much as I like to believe that our club had made a serious attempt to land Van Dijk this summer, especially when Shkodran Mustafi was supposedly to be leaving the club, as he would have been a big upgrade on our current options.
Unfortunately however, I believe the two clubs to be Liverpool and Chelsea who agreed terms with the player, which follows the majority of the speculation which I followed closely.
That doesn’t mean we won’t be be a possible destination for the defender in the future, as I’m sure our club is aware of how much he could improve our faltering defence.
Our club needs to stop pretending to be a poor club in the transfer window, and only trying to seek out bargains, as our rivals will splash out on players like VVD, while we take risks on other players who are deemed better value.
Do you think Arsenal had a deal in place with the player and his representatives? Will VVD move clubs in January?
Pat J