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Liverpool Await The League’s Decision Over Southampton’s Complaint

A nice letter may not be enough to keep Liverpool out of trouble in the Virgil van Dijk fiasco.

Norwich City v Southampton - The Emirates FA Cup Third Round


Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images

What’s happening between Liverpool and Southampton is not very good. That’s the hot take we’ve been looking for. Let’s make it go viral. And we will, but right now let’s talk about how it gets worse. Sorry.

Southampton filed a formal complaint with the Premier League over Liverpool’s approach to their business with Virgil van Dijk. That happened. We didn’t like it but we didn’t hear alarms bells or anything. We thought it was business tactics. Posturing. We thought it was going to blow over.

It didn’t blow over. It got worse. Liverpool responded with legal cover. An apology for doing it wrong and then they ended with a capital E their interest in van Dijk. I don’t know much about business tactics but at best full retreat has poor to mixed results. Good feelings, gone.

Does bowing out of the van Dijk race release Liverpool from any binds that the tapping up complaint might bring? Or will the league investigate further to find the culprit and bring them to justice? There’s been no word so far. At present that complaint is sitting in somebody’s to-do pile, awaiting it’s fate. One for the bin? Or one for the something that rhymes with bin but means victory.

Some think that there’s going to be a fabulous twist ending where M. Night Shyamalan turns it all on it’s head. And Liverpool will reveal some unexpected wow factor to wow us with. But, of course, it won’t be nearly as smart as we expect it to be. Because any good that there can be would still have left this trail of chaos behind it.

Whatever is to come, this drama does not reflect well on the club and the cumulative effect of this and other, recent recruitment blunders will now start to chip away at even the most uncritical FSG supporters.

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