Jamie Carragher has spoken a lot of sense about the latest development in the Virgil Van Dijk transfer saga, pointing out there is a pecking order in World football but he has missed the point.

Speaking on Sky's latest sports programme The Debate, Carragher spoke about Virgil Van Dijk's protracted attempts to leave St Mary's, unlike some of his peers in the Ex Liverpool players club he has put things in perspective, rather than merely hyped up the Anfield PR spin, however he has still missed the point or indeed several.

Carragher Said.

"There was talk that he refused to train...players come and go, and you're never happy when it's your own club. He's put in a transfer request, and that happens. He's denied that he has refused to train, or play, and I hope that's the case. It's somewhere you should never go as a player. It's wrong. I also think that if you are hoping to move, what about your fitness levels?"

"The frustration for Southampton, and this is for every club except possibly Real Madrid and Barcelona...there is a football chain. If you're Southampton, and you have a player wanted by Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester City, then he'll want to go. There's nothing wrong with that. That's football."

"Same with Liverpool and Phillippe Coutinho today. I don't think he's going to go, but he will want to go. Who wouldn't want to go to Barcelona? There are ways of going about it, and I'm sure that either this summer or next summer, Phillippe Coutinho will want to wear that Barcelona shirt. There's nothing wrong with that, that's football."

"Unfortunately for Southampton, that is the football chain. Liverpool are above Southampton, and Liverpool have the same problem if it's Real Madrid or Barcelona."

Carragher having spent all his career as a one club man knows all about loyalty and no one can deny that even though they havent won a Premier League title or indeed the title itself in 27 years, that as they go into the 28th season chasing that elusive accolade they are still a far bigger draw to a player than Southampton Football Club.

However that does not give Liverpool or any other club for that matter, the right to ignore the rules of the FA and Premier League and ride roughshod over us.

There is a chain in World football, there is a chain in English football, but players know when they sign contracts that they are legally binding and that they protect both player and club.

Van Dijk points out that his spell on the sidelines put things into perspective for him, he realised that a career is too short and can finish in an instant and therefore wants to get out and earn the big money and chase glory now in case it never happens.

Whilst I can understand why he might think that, he should also reflect on what would have happened if his career had been ended at the boot of Jamie Vardy or if he returned to action with Saints and was not the same player.

Would we have been able to dump him to a lower league club on a fraction of what we were paying him ? No we would have had to have honoured the lucrative 5 years left on a contract signed barely a year ago.

If Van Dijk had wanted to keep his options open and leave himself relatively free to a big transfer should it have arisen, then he should have not agreed a new six year deal with the club in the first place, he should have stuck with his original term that would now have seen him with only two years left and Saints having to seriously consider selling him or his value plummet next summer.

But when he signed up till 2022 he did so for several reasons, the first was that he wanted a lot more money, nothing wrong with that, who wouldn't ! the second was that is was the best offer on the table, Liverpool or for that matter any other club were not interested in him, as they weren't when he originally signed for Saints in 2015.

The final reason is that he is not the same man, a year ago he was a level headed model professional who by all accounts was polite and courteous, but after a change of agent to Rob Jansen and his Wasserman Group, suddenly his attitude changed.

This is not surprising after all it was Jansen who was charged with bringing in a new manager to Everton a year ago, it was Jansen who persuaded Ronald Koeman that he should change his agent to Jansen himself and then persuaded him that money mattered over morals to break his Saints deal.

Of course both Koeman and Van Dijk are adults and should know their own minds, but money talks in football.

Jamie Carragher does well to point out the fact that there is talk that Van Dijk has refused to train, the player has denied that, but he has admitted that he told Saints that he was not in the right frame of mind to travel to their training camps and play in pre season friendlies, whilst not exactly refusing to train, it is metaphorically speaking the equivalent of pulling a sickie when you are not really ill but fancy the day off.

The ex Liverpool player does not shy from the fact that this behaviour is wrong, that a player should never do that and he points to the fact that Phillippe Coutinho is in a similar position at Anfield as Van Dijk is at St Mary's, yet the Liverpool player is behaving in the right manner and not throwing his toys out of the pram. Carragher does miss the point here, in that Barcelona do not appear to be almost encouraging the player to break his contract, their hasn't been a media campaign unprecedented in football to try to force the move through.

Indeed Carragher alludes to the fact that you don't want players who behave in the wrong way in your team, although he shies away from saying it directly he knows that ultimately it only ends in tears, it leads to a break down in team spirit.

He also knows that the complexity of the situation could cost Liverpool dearly, not only Van Dijk is now a month away from full fitness, meaning that the likes of Dejan Lovren are going to have to play knowing they are dead men walking in the team, but if Van Dijk does not arrive then Jurgen Klopp is going to have to play his current central defenders who as shown in the past are not up to the level needed and more to the point are extremely hacked off that the manager has been trying to replace them, Klopp has stuck all his eggs in one basket and gambled, it could backfire and Liverpool be back to square one.

Van Dijk himself is probably missing that point as well, another year at Saints would probably see him being courted by the likes of Barcelona next summer, however Liverpool have shown they can be just as resistant to letting a player go as Saints are, he should carefuly consider whether he will be effectively making the final big move of his career and if that is the case in the pecking order Liverpool are at best 4th in English football an further down in a European list.

So Carragher speaks a lot of sense here, he is right there is a pecking order, he is right Van Dijk is no different to Coutinho or indeed every other player in football, in that he wants to play at the highest level that he can and in doing so earn the most money he can, there is nothing wrong with that.

But where Jamie Carragher truly misses the point is that there is a pecking order in football in terms of contracts, no club should be above the law, of course agents talk to clubs and discusions go on behind backs, that is football, but ultimately in the main all these discussions do is speed up the process, clubs know who is available and who isn't before they make a bid and they back off when it is not worth their while.

But there is a new breed of agent out there, ones that don't take no for an answer and don't think that contracts, rules and laws of the land apply to them and that is the trouble in this case, Van Dijk is an adult, but he is one that has never had to live in the real World, he has spent his life being cosetted and when he is being told to do something by his agent he will do.

Jamie Carragher loves Liverpool Football Club, a feat in itself for someone brought up an Everton supporter, but he is a genuine guy, in many respects similar to our own Francis Benali, a man who has not lost touch with his roots nor reality, when Saints were being badly run Frannie and Le Tiss were not scared to stand up and be counted, will Jamie Carragher stand up and tell this story how it is and how the attempts to force Van Dijk out of St Mary's and up to Anfield stink to high heaven ?

In the 125th year of a club that love of hate them were once known for their integrity, I hope that he would be honest enough to stand up and tell the truth and show that he has not missed the point after all !

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 10:14 - Aug 8 FFS can we stop all the whingeing now? Footballers get bought and sold and our club has made plenty of money out of doing it. Get over it.
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Santos added 10:33 - Aug 8 End game finally happening!!!! It's taken long enough for him to grow some and do the decent thing. Moving on!!! Mario Lemina !! Is it happening?? need some positives and then CB In's please.
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aceofthebase added 10:49 - Aug 8 Rip his transfer request up
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SanMarco added 11:53 - Aug 8 So the point being missed is that contracts have meaning in today's football. Good luck with getting modern players to accept that. I think the bigger point that a lot of us are missing is that VVD will definitely leave this month and if only Liverpool bid a lot of brown stuff will hit the fan. It would be lovely to believe that we would let him rot until January as punishment for appalling behaviour but it ain't going to happen. Really - it isn't. What we desperately need is a bid from a big club to create some competition with Liverpool. My fear is that the big club network will decide he is Liverpool bound and the bid will be low. We will then have no options as we need the money for replacements.

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DPeps added 12:22 - Aug 8 On a slightly different note, I wonder what effect Fonte's departure had on VVD. Fans have different opinions on the club's conduct regarding Fonte, but Fonte himself may have felt aggrieved and it's not unreasonable to assume that VVD was not impressed by Fonte's treatment. To be clear, I'm not excusing VVD's actions, but the club should learn from a lot this episode. And yes, we need 2 CBs and sharpish

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no7saint added 12:46 - Aug 8 Personally I don't think we should make too much of VVD failing to honour the six-year contract he signed last year. At the time he was clearly going to become sought after very quickly and I never thought it was anything other than a clever way by the club of having more power in these types of situations. It could even be a goodwill thing between club and player, i.e. we'll offer you a long contract on good money knowing that when someone else comes in for you that will push the price up and we won't stand in your way if the bid's right. I don't have a problem with that, he was never going to see the contract out and him signing it was a win-win for club and player. The problem is when it turns toxic as it has done we could discourage other players from extending their deals. As much as I don't want to see him go (esp to LFC) we'll have made a big profit on him and I'd rather have that kind of model than one where we pay over the odds for mediocre players we can't then get rid of.

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bstokesaint added 12:49 - Aug 8 Players need to accept that whilst we're a smaller club we don't exist solely for players to take a great big dump of disrespect on as and when they please. We give players opportunities that other clubs don't/won't and they're paid well for it. If these players had half a brain they'd maybe realize that if they all stuck together that they might achieve the unthinkable by 'doing a Leicester.' Yes, that's right sometimes a good group of players and team spirit can win things. I do kind of accept that in a way we have brought some of this culture upon ourselves and that's the angle that agents will take with their players. But, if the club are saying this is changing and we are now able to build for the future then players should be professional and accept this challenge (as their huge wages demand) and get on with their job instead of wetting the bed because they've suddenly changed their mind and their personal valuation. They are ****** "professionals." What other industries would highly paid professionals get away with this behavior whilst keeping their jobs? They'd probably be unemployable. And Jamie Carragher can say what he likes. He's right to a certain extent, because there is a food chain in football, but it's easy to accept that so graciously when there are only a handful of clubs who prey on your players! How noble of him. What I also think he fails to grasp is Southampton are trying to rip up the rulebook and push on the "top 6". This doesn't sit well with the pundits associated with the "top 6" and they like to bat this optimistic dream aside. However, in order to achieve it we need to start holding on to our stars. We've worked our nuts off since fighting our way out of League 1 and have done things the right way and deserve our chance at progressing further by sourcing some of the most exciting talent around and nurturing it. What gives clubs like Liverpool the natural born right to just swoop in and take what they want when they want and belittling us by standing up to them. It's pure arrogance.

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the_saint added 13:39 - Aug 8 Liverpool can't bid until we except an offer from another club then as long as they match it they will be able to talk to him ( saints could say no but they won't ) then it's up to Virgil van dick who he wants to play for so will be Liverpool. Can't wait to the little boy goes.
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BoondockSaint added 17:38 - Aug 8 He says "There's nothing wrong with that. That's football." Yes, that's football, but there IS something wrong with that! So every football team in the world are just cogs in the wheel to help Real and Barca? I never understand why (besides money) players want to go to teams that are already winning and have loads of talent. All their victories are hollow: Rarely any competition so they almost never lose. When they do, they just weaken the competition. It's no real accomplishment is it? It's like a heavyweight beating up on lightweights and if he gets his nose bloodied, they change the rules so the lightweight can't make a fist. Do these so-called sportsmen want a challenge? Want to really accomplish something that would really make them stand out from the pack? We desperately need a salary cap, but with agents giving backhanders to managers, board members and FIFA officials, I doubt it will ever happen. And spare me the Scouse thinking they deserve respect because of past glories! You don't hear Blackburn or Aston Villa going on and on, and on about past glories!In sports, it's what have you done lately. They are a mid-table team, and if it wasn't for Les Reed, they would be a bottom ten team, and the fans would be whinging even more than ever!

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pintsizedsaint added 18:07 - Aug 8 What rankles me about Carrigher's words is the reference to the football food chain: not because I believe it doesn't exist (it clearly does) but rather that somehow we should accept that it is "what it is". That's all well and good for Jamie, given that his club are part of the "established order". So you expect that from somebody who doesn't want the boat to be rocked. Well that's tough Jamie. Just because it is "what it is" doesn't make it right for LFC to break tapping up rules. Neither does it make it acceptable for himself and a raft load of desperate ex-players encourage a football player at another club to act like a spoilt child. Jamie should accept that SFC have worked hard to get where they are and are refusing to stop there. He should also have some admiration for the fact that SFC are not doing it the easy way with mounds of cash being pumped in via some millionaires plaything. SFC are earning the right to compete. The justification that Liverpool can do what they like to smaller clubs is no more reasonable than saying women should accept they will be paid less than men, or that only the rich should be able to go to private school: there is no justification - it is wrong and it is "what it is" is simply not good enough. Jamie should start appreciating that the likes of SFC are perhaps not only changing the playing field but levelling it too - so to allow football to become genuinely competitive, unpredictable and (dare I say it) exciting again. To face yet another season of the same top 6 ending up in the top 6 is just simply soul destroying. I'd like to think the likes of Leicester, Stoke, West Ham and others are applauding SFC - and perhaps they will also follow suit. And perhaps we will get our football league back.

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