Paul Senior was joined by Andy Heaton, Craig Hannan and Josh Sexton to react to the breaking news that Virgil van Dijk has handed in an official transfer request at Southampton.
The lads sift through the Dutchman’s public statement and debate Liverpool’s next move in this roller coaster of a transfer saga. Will we finally see van Dijk in a red shirt?
– The Gutter descends into the depths of tabloid transfer tittle-tattle and website waffle. It can be murky down here, but we look to give you our assessment of what might be the flaming torch of truth in the darkness – and what could just be flaming nonsense. Subscribe – it’s only a fiver a month. Minimum sign up is only one month. For more information on a subscription, click here.
I really hope we sign van dyjk but after Klopp intimating we have all the players we need, I am not sure we will put a bid in for him. I certainly do not trust fsg or Klopp when it comes to spending money. They just seem to ponce about when it comes to transfers and we always miss the boat. I don,t think they really want to sign top players because of the price. I think a big percentage of fans feel the same. Oh well fingers crossed……..
Nah, just you and a small minority of social media fanatics who think they know more than the manager
Good stuff lads, you resisted the impulse to whack yer TAW corporate tadgers out and start dementedly banging them on the squeeky desks. Just the right level of calm assessment mixed with a dash of ‘Yissss!’. They, Southampton, have got to get the max blood out of this stone, so I reckon Peligrino’s need to sort his own defense out will prevail soon. Maybe that’s why alls been quiet on the Sakho front too, if, as Steve considered, this is all staged now. Sakho is the key solution to all this for them and us.
Ever since the dust settled on the tapping up scandal I’ve found Saints’ stance on VVD bizarre. They’ve taken a very hardline, short term approach to what is in reality a very long-term problem. Football is about managing relationships, and if they genuinely are to hang on to him as they claim, then they’ve done nothing but damage their relationship with the player for the last 6 months (if his statement is to be believed). Even if their public stance worked and he remained a Southampton player at the end of the window, could that relationship be salvaged? They seem to be banking everything on Van Dijk simply accepting his lot, buckling down and getting on with it in September. A very dangerous gamble. If you were Pellegrino you’d probably be livid with them because the likelier outcome of VVD staying is him creating a toxic nightmare of a dressing room, no matter how professional he might be. Right now the press is largely behind Saints, a small to mid-sized club standing up to the bullies at the top of the league and an unruly player demanding they given n to his will. My suspicion would be that the longer this goes on, and the more long-term harm done to Van Dijk’s short term playing career, the worse Saints look as a club.
What it fundamentally comes down to is the ambitions of both parties. VVD has made it clear that he wants to spend his peak playing years at the top level (top four, title-challenging, CL level) of football – Southampton can’t give him that, regardless of the length of time remaining on his contract. The player has probably been good enough, up until his injury, to warrant that step up in quality. Further to that, they are spending like a club happy to solidify as a top 10 side, but with no pretensions of breaking into the top 4.
It’s taken us 7 years, 4 managers, a near miracle in persuading Klopp to come, hundreds of millions of pounds, 1 false dawn and a partridge in a pear tree; our place in that elite bracket next season is far from certain. That is an expensive headache which a club the size and stature of LFC demands but Saints just don’t need. The hierarchy seem happy to collect their decent chunk of the TV money each season with their sustainable model and capped wage structure and stay where they are, which begs the question… why the hell is there all this fuss over Van Dijk leaving? What is their end game? Force Van Dijk to stay and battle it out for 8th-10th every year?