Southampton Refuse to Sell Van Dijk to Liverpool

The irony of Liverpool’s arguably best player agitating for a move to Barcelona while Virgil van Dijk does the same to Southampton in hopes of securing a move to Merseyside should be lost on no one. Sure, the circumstances are different, but if any club has a right to feel particularly aggrieved because of recent history, it’s the Saints.

Southampton have been going on record since the middle of last season declaring that the talented Dutch center back is not for sale. Naturally, this has done nothing to stop Liverpool’s pursuit. Indeed, considering the tapping up allegations, Liverpool’s pursuit was probably overzealous.

The latest twist (if you can even call it that) in this saga is that the Saints might be amenable to selling Van Dijk, but not to Liverpool. Yahoo Sport, citing Southampton execs, claims that while the club would prefer to keep the defender at St. Mary’s, they will refuse any sale to Liverpool, preferring to do business with Manchester City or Chelsea. Because Liverpool can’t have nice things.

Whether this is posturing or just a late attempt to start a bidding war I couldn’t say. It has been suggested that a bid from another club could open the door for Liverpool to make an offer, but this is a moot point if they truly will not consider any offers from the Reds.

If you were coming here for good news, I’m dreadfully sorry. While this saga likely has a few more twists and turns, the chances that this shitburger of a transfer window ends well for Liverpool seem to be diminishing.