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Did you feel it? Somewhere a footballer’s agent’s phone just vibrated on a crushed glass table top. That would be Virgil van Dijk’s agent’s phone. The Southampton player has been all the talk at this season’s Defender’s Ball and with 2016/17 campaign winding down, clubs the world over will be making their inquiries for van Dijk’s terms.
With the Dutch international’s name popping up again today I suppose we can assume that his agent has begun answering those calls more frequently and that Liverpool have been making moves to secure their spot at the top of the “Virgil van Dijk transfer destinations” search list. That’s a search engine joke. I think it works.
The other clubs being bandied about for van Dijk’s signature are Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton. It makes sense for those clubs to be in for a proven defender, but one of those names is not like the other. No disrespect to the blue half of Merseyside but Everton will surely know that their chances of nabbing van Dijk are thin.
There will certainly be other clubs in Europe in for the 25-year-old center back but it’s not surprising that it’s the Premier League heavyweights that are making the headlines. Virgil van Dijk has excelled in England since moving to Southampton from Celtic in 2013. But the player’s stellar form in the “greatest league in the world” along with the remaining five years he has on his Southampton contract mean that we won’t be dealing with fire sale prices.
Southampton are starting the conversation at £50million. And if you’re not familiar with money, let me tell you, that’s a lot of it. Add on the £35million Arsenal are looking for in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and all of a sudden things start to get silly. But it’s understood that Liverpool will have quite a bit of funds this summer to bring players in. And Champions League qualification would add a bit of cash to that pile. Also, any player sales.
It’s clear that Liverpool are putting their negotiation hats on already. Sit tight for changing values and contractual language over the next several months for a variety of players.