Deal Or No Deal?
It seemed that the Virgil Van Dijk saga may finally come to an end with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea coming close to sealing a deal with the Southampton defender. The London side is reportedly the front-runners in an attempt to sign Van Dijk fending off competition from Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.
After a humiliation at the hands of Burnley on the first game of the season, the defending champions lost their shape and composure after Gary Cahill was sent off. The title holders succumbed to a 3-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge and showed the unpredictability of the Premier League. Chelsea will now look to spring back into action after the loss and re-enforce their defense.
And to nobody’s surprise, they have lined up a bid for arguably the best defender in the league, Virgil Van Dijk. The Dutchman has been linked to many top clubs after he submitted a transfer request last week.
And now the Blues are in the midst of preparing a £50 million bid for Van Dijk in an attempt to bring him to Stamford Bridge from Saint Mary’s. Southampton are keen on receiving a massive sum of money for a player who doesn’t wasn’t to play at the South Coast club.
The Saints are more willing to sell Van Dijk to Chelsea rather than Liverpool after the Merseyside club made an illegal approach for him last month. However, despite Southampton wanting their star to remain at the club, manager Mauricio Pellegrino has stated, ‘Virgil is an important player and we need him focused on our club,’ the Saints boss said.
‘My reaction is the same that I said three weeks ago: we are expecting him to come back, to train with us because we need the players, we need all of them.
‘Hopefully he can change his point of view.’
It’s not likely that Van Dijk will change his mind about leaving the club, but with Conte having an underwhelming transfer situation at Chelsea, he would be willing to spend big on the Soton star.
The Recent Update-
It has been now stated that the west London outfit will be patient in their hunt to sign their defensive target, as they look to beat their English rivals. The player is a high quality star and it is no secret that clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City have been chasing him too, as discussed earlier.
Now, if the champions of England want to gain the upper hand in this race, it has been become quite evident that Conte needs to show some patience and keep trying to get a move done, prior to deadline day.
It be interesting to see how this prolonged transfer saga now develops, as the interest from these clubs does not seem to be fading away, with the player looking to complete a move away from the St. Marys’ himself.
Whatever be the update now in the race to add him to either of the squads, we at Beyond The Posts will provide you the reports.
