Virgil Van Dijk Part 873: Manchester City Now Favorites

For better or worse, Liverpool have made no secret about their top transfer targets this summer. This strategy has already seen the Reds come up short in their attempts to sign promising teenage left back Ryan Sessegnon and attacking midfielder Julian Brandt. Now, it appears another transfer failure—arguably the biggest in any sense of the word—is about to unfold.

The highly reputable Paul Joyce is reporting this morning for the Times that Manchester City are preparing a whopping £100 million offer for the Virgil van Dijk, roughly twice the £50-60 million that had previously been tossed around. In addition to £50 million transfer fee, City are prepared to offer the Dutch center back £180,000 per week, reportedly £10,000 more than Chelsea, and £50,000 more than Liverpool were prepared to offer.

If true, and given the source there’s reason to believe the report, Liverpool aren’t just going to come up short, but drastically so. Indeed, it appears Liverpool are a distant third in a two-way race.

Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp can offer a number of things these other clubs cannot, but when it comes down to money, the Reds will always come out second-best when Cheslea and Manchester City are involved. If Klopp & Co. miss out on this particular target because of cash, it is a stark reminder of how Liverpool will continue having to do more with less for the foreseeable future.

This transfer saga is not over yet, but at this point it looks like Liverpool are going to be little more than an afterthought. And given our very public expression of interest in van Dijk, this will likely go down as another embarrassing off the pitch defeat.