Liverpool fans have breathed a sigh of relief, the news that Sakho might have only bruised his ligaments means they think we will be willing to do a deal for Van Dijk.

Liverpool fans seem to think that the key to them signing Virgil Van Dijk will be their ability to sell us Sakho, they feel that their club have not got the money to pay out £50 million for the Dutchman, but as we are desperate to sign Sakho he can be the £30 million makeweight in the deal.

The problem with that one is that we are not going to pay £30 million for Sakho, nor are we going to match his alleged £110 k a week wage demands, if Saints are one thing in the transfer market it is careful, we do not just look at a player on his performances, we value him against what we would have to pay both in transfer fee and wages and if the figures don't add up then we won't be buying.

Add to that we look at a players temperament and whether he would fit into the Southampton way of doing things and Sakho does not look to be our man, no matter how much the Liverpool Echo try to convince everyone he is, just about the only thing more that the paper could do to try and get this deal done is give us a free full page advert.

That Saints don't panic buy was shown back in January when we refused to bow down to the demands of both Liverpool and Sakho to transfer to us, despite the fact that we desperately needed a central defender, we knew Sakho's worth and it was not the £20 million we were quoted by Liverpool back then so it certainly isn't £30 million now.

We do not look for under performing overpriced players, we look for those who are still just under the radar and who we can bring in cheaply, develop and then move on for profit and repeat the process.

That is why we bought Lovren, Clyne & Mane for a combined fee of around £20 million and sold them to Liverpool for a shade under £70 million.

If Virgil Van Dijk does go in the summer he will go for a massive fee, but we will not be spending £30 million of that on Sakho , if Liverpool think that 50 odd Premier games in 4 seasons is developing a player and means that his worth is now around £12 million more than they paid for him, then they have another think going, if we were to sign Sakho it would be at less than what Liverpool paid for him, not more, otherwise we will go and do what we have done before, find a better player for around £12 million .

The media war is now opening to sell Virgil Van Dijk, the Liverpool Echo is obviously very close to Liverpool Football Club in the way that it is willing to try and convince anyone who will listen that this transfer will happen. and on terms dictated to by Liverpool.

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LordDZLucan added 15:43 - Apr 28 He's not good enough with the ball at his feet for Liverpool so he wouldn't be a fit for us either. Let's wait for the Chinese investment to come to fruition before anyone makes a decision on Virgil's future. It could be that Virgil will want to stay if the plans are ambitious enough.
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Sanguin added 16:40 - Apr 28 I fully expect VVD to stay for at least another season, he doesn't seem desperate to move, although this could simply be that he is more professional that some of the players we've sold in the past few years. I fully agree with your analysis Nick, I think we were interested in Sakho in January but baulked at £20m. In retrospect I think £20m would've been worth paying in January but there's no way the club values Sakho at £30m now.

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the_saint added 16:41 - Apr 28 I really think he will stay for one more season, I think he may think he has unfinished business with us after missing a lot of the season. Unless the board decide to cash in of course
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BoondockSaint added 17:47 - Apr 28 If we a stupid enough to help the Scouse again, we will be the laughing stock of the league.
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bigrob68 added 18:17 - Apr 28 Liverpool are deluded, VVD will not go to has been club, Man City or Chelsea or Spain is my guess but after next season.
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Natedog added 18:29 - Apr 28 To be honest I'd rather not have Sakho and sell Van Dijk to a club in a foreign country as then he cannot help a team in the same league to win the league and beat us twice. As good as Sakho is, Crystal Palace are currently set up to defend and therefore they do not get caught on the counter too much. Here we overcommit our full backs and therefore the defenders need to be good in the air and really good positionally, which Stephens and Yoshida are not really the best at. Therefore, we'd be giving our league rivals an advantage. I reckon we could do better however if the worst came to the worst I would accept Sakho as we have a tendency to make average players better and that is what we could do with him. I really don't want Liverpool to have Van Dijk though as then they would be superior defensively.

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TeamCortese added 20:13 - Apr 28 If our owners have any pride they would not consider selling any of our core players for at least a few windows. Or worst come to worst we sell to a club abroad. I think Ake, Zouma and Pontus Janson should be ahead of Sakho as transfer priorities in my opinion.
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SanMarco added 22:19 - Apr 28 I hope VVD stays for one more season but I am surprised at so much optimism on here that he will. I think he will go, but not to Liverpool. If Koeman were to get the Barca job he would go there but I can see Chelski or Man City going for him too. This coming summer is a vital one for Saints. If VVD + 2 or 3 of our other best players go it will suck the life out of a fair few of us. Yet another summer of sales will mark us as a 'selling club' for good.

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TimSaint added 12:02 - Apr 29 I think it just depends on which Gossip Column or local/regional newspaper you read. All of them have posted positive slants on why he will sign for their particular clubs. If you believe any of them, he could be off to Everton, Liverpool, Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Barca. Even the Echo has suggested at times, that he will be off. I have a feeling he may be staying for another season, particularly as he has not played since January and has been made captain. If he does go, then I would definitely not sell him to Liverpool, or indeed include a swap deal involving Sakho - who is extremely over rated and incredibly over priced in terms of both transfer fee and wages.

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dirk_doone added 12:22 - Apr 29 Kat will be looking at which deal gives her the most cash and it obviously won't be that one.
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IWOZTHERE added 13:00 - Apr 29 Just wish we knew one way or the other. We've still got weeks and weeks of this doubt. Glad a few still hope he stays. What gets me is the arrogance of the scousers (and others) that all they've got to do is snap their fingers and VVD will come running.
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