How Can Liverpool Want Van Dijk When They Make No Offer ! Friday, 21st Jul 2017 10:07 When we want something in life we usually go to a shop find out if it's available and then if we can afford it take it to the counter and offer the money to the shopkeeper, why aren't Liverpool doing this with Virgil Van Dijk. The strangest thing about what is surely the most bizarre attempt to sign a player in football history is that Liverpool do not appear to have actually made any direct attempt to buy Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton Football Club. For the past three months all that has happened is headlines in newspapers, if we used the analogy of a man liking a woman and wanting to date her, normally he would ask her if she wanted to go out with him and then find out whether she did or not. But in this case after a brief conversation when the girl tells him that she already has a boyfriend, he is standing on the other side of the nightclub staring at her, following her every move but not making an approach, he is then getting his friends to suggest to her that she would be better off going out with him than anyone else, getting them to tell them how rich he is, how good looking he is , how he is going to have it all, but he is not going to make a direct approach, she is going to have to demand to go out with him ! This is constant, but strangely he never actually asks her out, just stands and stares, as you would imagine, if this was the case in real life we would find this man rather weird, it would be called stalking and the girl would probably phone the Police fearing that this man was very sinister. Perhaps the girl although initially thinking that this man seemed nice and she might like to go out with him, would now see another side to him and think that this is not a good idea after all, he is not much of a Gentleman. This is the case at the moment with Liverpool, they are briefing their friends in the media to tell the World the move is still on and that all that needs to happen is that the girl needs to tell her current boyfriend she is finished with them and they can be together. If this happened in real life we would probably be reading all about it in the papers, in the court cases section ! So far all that has happened are three facts. 1. Saints themselves have made it quite clear that they are not in the market to sell Virgil Van Dijk at present. 2. If they were then it would need to be a substantial bid. Saints know every player has his price. 3. That no bids have been received for Van Dijk from Liverpool or for that matter any other club. So what has happened in the last three months ? the truth is absolutely nothing bar this bizarre media campaign. So why aren't Liverpool making a bid for a player that they have admitted they wanted, but also stated that they were no longer in the market for, yet still blatantly covet. This is the most bizarre aspect of it all, usually transfers are the subject of batering, it is all part of the game, the buying club makes an offer well below the price they are actually wiling to pay, the selling club demands a figure well above what they are willing to accept and then they talk and try and reach an agreement in the middle. Why tis is not happening is amazing, why have Liverpool not picked up the phone to les Reed and made an offer, then at least we would all know where we stand, not least the player himself. The situation for Van Dijk is that if he puts in that request then he will lose his right to a percentage of the transfer fee, that could be around £7 million assuming that he goes for £70 million. That figure would not be far short of his yearly salary at Anfield, it is not peanuts and to be frank money seems to be the key issue in this deal not ambition. Liverpool seem to be reticent in paying the full value for Van Dijk, they seem to think that if he has put in a transfer request then it will strengthen their hand, they can get him on the cheap because he has demanded to leave and we will have to give him away so to speak. But this is having the opposite affect, with every story planted in the media it further backs Saints into a corner, they have made a statement and they have to stick to it, every day Liverpool fail to make a bid and one of their media sources or ex players puts out a story it makes it far less likely that Saints will sell or if they do then the price goes up considerably. With regard to price given that Kyle Walker cost Manchester City £50 million and that they have also had a bid of £45 million turned down for a left back in Benjamin Mendy from Monaco, Van Dijk's value by Saints of £70 million and rising is not over excessive. There needs to be an end to this sorry saga for both Saints and Liverpool, the Anfield club need to make their bid so that all three parties know exactly where they stand. Ultimately though Southampton Football Club hold all the aces, with five years left on Van Dijk's deal they do not have to sell, they feel that over the next season his value will not drop it will only rise, Saints are not the villains in this piece. Indeed they have history of holding players to their contracts when it is in the club's interest as Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama will testify. But having said all this the Saints strategy is based on selling when the time is right, in their heads they will know what the figure is where it is better for the squad to sell the player and reinvest the proceeds to strengthen, but they cannot sell when no one makes an offer ! Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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