LIVERPOOL’S on-off pursuit of Virgil van Dijk took yet another twist on Monday evening as the Dutchman released a public statement outlining his desire to leave Southampton.
https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldWrap/status/894596826254516235
Under 24 hours before, Jürgen Klopp insisted he was happy with his options in the centre of defence, a bizarre climbdown considering the club have been publicly chasing a top-class centre half as a priority this summer.
Heads fell off, which is to be expected. The time between the 10.30pm brigade publishing those Klopp quotes and van Dijk’s transfer request being made public seemed to encapsulate Liverpool’s transfer window so far.
As fast as some good news breaks, the mood is almost instantly dampened by bad news, which sends social media into complete meltdown. Fortunately in this case the good news has proceeded the bad.
All of a sudden there’s a glimmer of hope that on September 1, The Reds can look back over the summer window with a sense of satisfaction. Where at one point it seemed van Dijk, Naby Keita and Philippe Coutinho wouldn’t be Liverpool players by the time the window slammed shut, it now seems Liverpool could have two of their three wishes granted.
Any deal for Keita seems to be as good as completely dead and buried at this stage, but The Reds’ hardline stance on Barcelona’s approach for Coutinho coupled with van Dijk’s strongly-worded press release has given Klopp and co the chance to rescue this window from the brink of collapse.
The news of Coutinho wanting a move to Barcelona was met with much less of the fume than is to be expected. That’s because it hasn’t changed anybody’s stance. Coutinho wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t tempted by a move to a club the size of Barcelona but he wants a move to be done amicably.
The Brazilian has given all the power to Liverpool, who insist they won’t sell their star man for any price. They know that by maintaining their stance they won’t have a problem child on their hands, and they’ll be hoping that Barca are forced to go into the market for a Neymar replacement this summer rather than waiting to come back in for Coutinho at the next opportunity.
Liverpool’s resolve will likely be tested by the Catalan club over the next three weeks but it would be suicide for the owners to sign off on a deal. Not only would it leave little time to find a replacement, there’s no guarantee that a player of his calibre is even available to The Reds.
Coutinho is proven a match winner and even with £120million plus burning a hole in their pocket Liverpool can’t instantly replace that. New players need time to settle and with just days remaining until the start of the new season, the club are on borrowed time.
A sale makes absolutely no sense.
Where van Dijk is concerned the ball is also firmly in Liverpool’s court. That public statement almost reads as a “come and get me” plea from the Southampton defender, who completely scorched all bridges between himself and his employers in the process.
The belief is that The Saints have been keen to save face and not authorise another Merseyside move, having already seen Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne and Sadio Mane head in that direction.
If that is the case, van Dijk wouldn’t have needed to hand in a transfer request to get a move to a bigger club than his current one. The chances are if Manchester City or Chelsea had come in with a bid that matched Southampton’s valuation then the south coast club would cut their ties with a player whose position has become untenable.
https://twitter.com/VirgilvDijk/status/872785988489236480
That’s either because City and Chelsea don’t hold enough of an interest in the player to make a move or because he’s made his feelings pretty clear throughout the summer that he has his heart set on Liverpool.
Southampton now find themselves in a lose-lose situation. If they choose to maintain the stance they’ve adopted all summer then they will have a player who isn’t 100 per cent committed to the cause and have to deal with the consequences that could have on the dressing room. In addition to that they may be limiting their own chances of signing that calibre of player in the future, as young up and coming players don’t want to see their path blocked in the same way.
But if they choose to sell to Liverpool then they will be seen to have given in again, and will likely face a backlash from their supporters. The best case scenario for Southampton would be for another club to come in and take van Dijk from under Liverpool’s nose.
Which is why The Reds need to make their move and fast. If they are confident that moving for the 26-year-old will have no repercussions, following on from the accusations of tapping up earlier in the window, then they must do so. Throw in a few million on top of the price tag as an apology and allow all parties to move on.
There will still be grumbles about missing out on Keita but sometimes these things happen. It seems Klopp is accounting for that by converting James Milner back into a central midfielder and keeping hold of Alberto Moreno. If the reports about Juventus not being confident of getting Emre Can are true, and they can get a new deal sorted, then they won’t be short on numbers at least.
The Reds could even move for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain if they felt they were short on numbers in midfield. It doesn’t look as though he’s averse to a move…
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain liked a comment on Instagram that read: ‘Unlucky mate… he’s joining Liverpool FC’. pic.twitter.com/1oElQgfV2a
— ArsenalFanTV (@ArsenalFanTV) August 8, 2017
Liverpool have made relative progress this summer. Mohamed Salah is already looking like one of the buys of the window, Andrew Robertson solves last season’s problems on the left-hand side and Dominic Solanke has shown glimpses of why he is so highly thought of.
If they can keep hold of Coutinho and add van Dijk then things will look a whole lot rosier.
https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldWrap/status/894608555159977984
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Next Tuesday is the big one with regard to Coutinho, if he plays I expect Barca would drop their interest for 12 months
He can still play for Barca in the group stages of the CL if he plays for us in the play-off, according to UEFA’s rules.
Not sure about that it’s why Owen didn’t play against Sturm Graz in 2004
It might have been the case at the time, but the rule must have changed since then. This is from Article 42.07 in their regulations for 2015-2018:
“As a rule, a player may not play in a UEFA club competition (i.e. UEFA Champions
League and UEFA Europa League, but not UEFA Super Cup) for more than one
club in the course of the same season. Exceptionally, however, a player who has
been fielded in the first, second, third qualifying round or the play-offs of the
UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League is entitled to play in the UEFA
Champions League or UEFA Europa League for another club as from the group
stage.”
Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk, Fraser Foster, Jools Hoolveld (sp?) – Southampton can fuck off when it comes to moaning about tapping up one club for players.
Why do they care who they sell to? Its not as though the clubs in the running are rivals – that’s West Ham, Everton and WBA as far as Southampton are concerned.
I’d like to think Werner is on the phone to his chairman counterpart at Southampton to get this agreed at the top level – if we do have Keita money as well, then we pay 10m over any other highest bid that comes in…..although the problem with that is how much difference does 70m or 80m make? 10m is peanuts these days.
Lets not forget that when he says “if they are still interested” City were interested and withdrew that interest, Chelsea are also interested – maybe Van Dijk is being purposely opaque to leave his options open. IF we are going to get his done, we get it closed in the next 7 days.
VVD will be a Liverpool player within 3 weeks.
Loads here and elsewhere read the quote by Klopp and stopped at “I don’t think we need more” for the centre-backs, ignoring the rest of the statement about how we have til August 31 that suggested he’s waiting for the right one. I agree with Andy on the Gutter yesterday when he said if I were Van Dijk I would have read it as some sort of reassurance that the club still want him, and whether rehearsed or not, I think that might have been what gave him the confidence to put in a TR. Hopefully we won’t mess it up haggling over the payment structure now…
Amy, if you think VvD has to rely on ‘interpreting’ Klopp’s statements made to the press, you need to broaden your outlook. After Southampton leaked the report that JK and VvD had met in Blackpool to trigger all this sh*te. LFC/Klopp would be mugs not to have set up a watertight backchannel through, say, a trusted third party. Wasn’t it Andy or Steve who speculated on The Gutter that all this could well be orchestrated to save face for both clubs. The ‘final dance’ to bring it all together with enough time for both clubs to establish new back lines for the start of the season. Pelligrino still does not have a vallid defence as things stand. How the fark can they go up against the top half of the Prem with VvD not giving a monkeys about wearing the shirt? There’s far more going on here than we are currently privileged to know
My point was more about that there are (at least) two ways to interpret Klopp’s comment… I really don’t understand the point you’re making though – what’s your point exactly? And you say there’s far more going on than what we know, but you’re so sure you’re right? And you know for sure it was the Blackpool meeting that triggered this? Not LFC arrogantly briefing the press about VVD’s preference as some of those close to the situation have said? I honestly don’t understand your point- And where did I say that this is definitely not orchestrated? Broadening one’s outlook is always good advice though, so thanks for that.
Frankly, anyone who takes klopp at face value and honestly thinks there aren’t a bunch of scenarios playing out in the background really needs to get out more.
The one thing not being mentioned here is the impact of the cl quali…and whether that’s having an effect.
Southampton released the meeting.
Van Dijks agent released his desire to join us.
We put fuck all over in the public domain as far as I can see.
Good read, thanks. On this point:
“Liverpool’s resolve will likely be tested by the Catalan club over the next three weeks but it would be suicide for the owners to sign off on a deal. Not only would it leave little time to find a replacement, there’s no guarantee that a player of his calibre is even available to The Reds.”
LFC need to look beyond this as a (‘the’) reason not to sell, as Barca may well offer a player plus cash. The reasons for not being willing to sell go beyond having little time to find a replacement and no guarantee of an alternative player being available. The main reason is what selling would say and do regarding our ambitious project to win the league and compete well on the pitch in Europe.
Holding onto Coutinho and signing a quality centreback should be viewed as the absolute minimum business this summer. So in order to advance we need more signings.
Salah is starting to look like a bargain, not just because of his quality but also the prices of players this summer.
We aren’t leaving ourselves very much time to get shit done.
VVD will sign for CFC much later in the window when he finally understands and accepts that Saints simply will not sell to us.
This, I know, is Saints current plan in private. To leave him with no option other than signing for a team other than LFC or stay and rot at St Marys. Wait and watch it unfold.
If people think Saints are going to give in like the old days and sell to us, they could be in for a big surprise and disappointment. His TR & statement has changed absolutely nothing is Saints mind or planning.
Van dijk simply doesn’t have to sign for Chelsea….
This is the worry, yes. And maybe loads of people will applaud their intransigence if that happens. But loads more will laugh at them for forgoing 15-25m for ‘pride’ or whatever their stupid reason is, because that amount of money could be the difference in bids if LFC do what they need to do to get it over the line. I’ve criticised our club over the handling of this transfer but really Southampton have been just as embarrassing.
How exactly have Southampton been just as embarrassing?
By wanting to keep one of their best players who only recently signed a new long term contract?
By making him train away from the main squad like we did with Suarez?
How?
On the one hand you’re right, I’m mostly judging them on reports of what they might or might not do. But on the other hand, I see three possible outcomes to the situation they’ve helped engineer- an unhappy VVD stays wasting away at their club, they sell to Chelsea at a lower fee, or they sell to us – and none of these three situations has them coming out with their heads held high after all that’s transpired over the summer. Just my opinion of course! Whatever they wanted at the start of the summer isn’t what they’re going to get at the end of it. Hence the comparison to LFC.
Anyone else have a horrible, horrible feeling that we’re waiting for Van Dijk confirmation before announcing Coutinho to Barca’? I’ve defended FSG in the past (not strongly) but that would be it for me. I think the club should issue a statement definitively to counteract all the noise and scaremongering from the Catalan press. Yes, Klopp has been adamant but it would end all the speculation if a statement was released.
how many more statements does the club need to make stating “he is not for sale”? Seems we’re releasing one a day through press conferences or whatever…..every time a story appears in Spain – a not for sale comment comes from the club.
Yes I get that horrible feeling, if FSG sell Phil they are finished in my eyes.How many players do they think they can sell before the fans have enough.We have plenty of money and are a club ready to explode in popularity and take advantage of our past successes, this will not happen if we keep making the same mistakes.Klopp is good but he is not a miracle worker, the coach knows his plans are out of the window for this season without Coutinho.The damage is not just the fact that we lose our best player but we also lose team morale, but worse than all of this we look like a small club being taken advantage of once again.FSG be careful this could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
This is nonsense – you don’t think Klopp sometimes might just plan for a situation for a player breaking his leg in October or getting an ACL in September? To say everything only goes out of the window if we sell him shows no understanding of the planning that goes on with a manager and his staff.
Was Klopp’s statement about having enough centre backs just face saving because he knows van Dijk is going to Chelsea.?
But then Chelsea already had Cahill and Luiz and have just spent £34m on Rudiger. Which of those will drop to the bench for van Dijk?
As disappointing as it may seem (the virtual transfers of players we actually don’t quite know yet ) surely we have to keep faith with the best manager there is , right now , who has, looked at all of those nearly men / journey men/ and massively over hyped squad men and … moved them on
For whatever’s money (Ibe, Sinclair , etc ) and now has a squad that now starts resembling an elite/athletic group
The insane money that is being splashed around Europe just emphasises the need to remain calm and build from within
JK has a track record of NOT binning people off too early so therefore I expect him to have our squad for the season right. If we sell / buy in the short term – so be it
I firmly believe that he (JK) knows exactly where we’re going and I, for one, will support him all the way !
Of course a elite management team plan for every eventuality injuries loss of form but this late in the pre season for a team supposedly challenging for the league to sell there best player is sabotaging the possibilities of doing so.The fans will be destined for another season of hoping to finish fourth.The season ebbs and flows and changes need to be made but quality always shins through which in turn adds up to more points in May.Sell Coutinho and we finish lower than with him, money in the bank like Arsenal with no trophies to celebrate.
the point is a player could be lost for a season due to a range of reasons – from biting and racially abusing people to taking drugs or getting injured. Selling is just one of those options. And, as it stands, selling him is the least likely to happen at this point in time.