There is no surprise that Virgil Van Dijk is linked with a move to Liverpool, after all we are no strangers to their bank account details, but just how much water does this latest rumour hold.

There are perhaps two reasons why Virgil Van Dijk is being linked with a move to Anfield, the first is that Liverpool have seemingly attempted to sign everyone from our star players down to the St Mary's tea lady in the past couple of years.

The second is that Virgil Van Dijk is one of the best central defenders in the Premier League and makes their sorry looking pairing in the centre of defence amateurs in comparison.

When Liverpool signed Dejan Lovren I wondered what they were doing, although Lovren was a quality central defender in the old fashioned big stopper sense, he wasn't the type of cultured ball playing defender that Liverpool had become known for.

Van Dijk is however and not only is he a better defender than Lovren but he can play the ball from the back and carry it forward in what would be described as the Liverpool way.

Therefore whilst it was a surprise that Jurgen Klopp did not stengthen the heart of his defence back in the summer, it is not a shock that he is considering doing so in January and that he will take the easy option and head for the tree overlooking Staplewood like his predecessor before him.

But how much water does this rumour hold ?

I would say that there is little actual concrete evidence, it appears to have started from Scouser and former Pompey striker Micky Quinn talking on the radio station TalkSport.

Quinn although hailing from Merseyside has no real connection with Liverpool FC and his daytime job is as a racehorse trainer based in Suffolk although he supplements that income by a bit of presenting for Talk Sport and a bit of scouting for Wigan Athletic, although he hasn't had a full time job in football for over 20 years.

As most will know TalkSport built itself up as The Sun of the airwaves, no surprise as its owner was former Sun editor Kelvin McKenzie, the man responsible for the papers awful coverage in the days after Hillsborough.

That perhaps tells those unfamiliar with the station that it specialises in sensationalist headline quotes, Quinn whilst appearing on the station, something he has done for many years knows what is required and that he needs to be providing a bit of spicy gossip.

In fairness to Quinn, it would not be hard to find someone who would have told him that Liverpool were after VVW, after all you have Liverpool who could have a chance of winning the title but with a very suspect defence and one of the most highly rated central defenders, it is not rocket science.

But as we know as transfer windows approach, the media with little else to talk about go into a frenzy looking for headlines, after all it was only days ago that some papers were claiming that Liverpool were willing to put their title winning hopes in the hands of Sam McQueen after making only one start for Saints in the Premier League.

So although I am worried about Virgil Van Dijk's long term career at Saints given his quality, I do not pay much attention to this rumour, yes Liverpool might be planning a bid for Van Dijk, but football clubs keep transfer dealings secret, they do not tell part time football pundits like Quinn and enable the opposition to get word of it and at best pus up the price and at worst scupper the deal.

I also have faith in Ralph Krueger, Saints have a plan when it comes to transfers and every player has a price, but the club tends not to sell players in the January transfer window, especially if we are still fighting on all four fronts.

Photo: Action Images

IWOZTHERE added 10:09 - Nov 2 Liverpool want Van Dijk?..No surprise there. The only surprise is that you haven't mentioned the other dozen or so clubs that probably want him. Not worried about the window. It's going to be about how VVD himself perceives the ambition of the club at the end of the season and how many of those clubs have £50+m burning a hole in their pockets. If the club let him go easily, that's the dream over for me!

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abingdonsaint added 10:28 - Nov 2 No chance of VVD going in January. He is the best CB in the league in my opinion, and the whole point of getting him to sign a 6 year contract is not that we expect him to be here that long (I wish!) but to give us control of the situation. We do not need the money, do not sell in January, and he would be too difficult to replace. There will undoubtedly be interest in the summer, but would hope we could keep him for one more season after this. After that, he may well skip Liverpool and go straight to Barcelona or Real Madrid anyway....he is that good!

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Jesus_02 added 10:46 - Nov 2 I think VVD is with us for a couple of seasons yet. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't strengthen at CB ourselves. Or see Fonte moved on for someone else. VVD is pretty much essential for transitioning a new player in should Fonte leave. At the moment we are thin on goals up front but are saved with a strong defence. If we don't manage Jose's transition well (loose VVD at the same time) then we are looking like a relegation team

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SaintNick added 11:23 - Nov 2 To say losing one or two players would see us look like a relegation team is a little sensationalist, we have a very strong squad, even if we had to play Yoshida and Gardos, that is not much different to when we had Yoshida and Hooiveld in our first season back in the Premier. We didny struggle then and we have a far better all round squad now
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SanMarco added 11:32 - Nov 2 To be fair Nick - we only guaranteed safety in the penultimate game. If VVD was out for the season from tomorrow we wouldn't be relegated (barring lots of other bad luck) but we would go from favourites to come 8/9th to more like 14th/15th. I also like the way that Gardos is suddenly fit and ready to take his place beside the mighty Yoshi...
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SanMarco added 11:33 - Nov 2 Oh and VVD will go to Everton in the summer...
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BUCK added 11:59 - Nov 2 San Marco,ad you kidding. Vvd certainly wont be going to Everton. I reckon the big big clubs w/o come in for him,Barca, real, Bayern.Everton,no chance. saints need to slap 50vmillion on his head. Anything short well,we need to tell them to piss off
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bstokesaint added 12:03 - Nov 2 Whether it’s fact or just another rumour inevitably one day we will lose VVD because he is probably one of the best defenders in the world right now. As they said on Sky the other week he would be right at home in a Barca or Madrid shirt. Realistically this means he could easily skip the Liverpool stage and go for mega bucks to a proper giant. I can’t see Liverpool going more than £30m because even they have their budgets, so I’m not sure they could afford his true price. Until that big bid comes in I’m just going to enjoy having him at Saints. I actually get just as fed up with the moaning fans as I do the physical “poaching” of our best players and the fantasy league team people put together of the players we could have had. This obviously excludes any of those like Chambers and Schneiderlin who can’t even get into the first team of their new clubs. The truth is players have short careers and want instant success and as much money as they can. They’re not interested in long-term goals that a club might have and they’re rarely Southampton fans like the rest of us – they have no real loyalty. Even Lallana who pretty much pledged his undying loyalty to the club, was turned just a couple of months later after one gushing outburst. The club are in an impossible position. They do all they can to get the price and then replace quality with quality. Inevitably the quality coming in will be young, unnurtured talent, that will soon attract the eye of a bigger fish. It’s the cycle we need to learn to accept in the short term. As long as we are improving all the time; higher average top finishes, regular European football, maybe having domestic cup success, increasing our gates and fanbase, both at home and abroad, getting better sponsorship deals; then one day we will be able to compete with the best. It’s just a question of patience and supporting the club during this time and not opting for instant success like the players.

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LordDZLucan added 12:55 - Nov 2 Virgil Van Dijk is the best player in the side by a country mile. He is brilliant in defence and he looks like he could be just as effective in midfield or upfront. We can't afford to lose him. The falling pound means that he's more likely to go to a European club than a domestic club - unless of course there is the dreaded release clause in his contract and the release price is in pounds rather than euros! The contract he signed is key in all of this. I'm sure the details of that contract will leak out if Liverpool feel they have a chance of signing him.

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SaintBrock added 13:13 - Nov 2 Stop fanning flames Nick or you'll give people ideas.
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BoondockSaint added 13:53 - Nov 2 The worry we Saints supporters all have is that this is how it always starts....and the player is gone in a couple of weeks Gotta disagree Nick-this is exactly how clubs do business: They don't want to get accused of tampering so they have their contacts in the media put out the word out as a "rumour" they can deny. Now the player and just as importantly, his agent now know they are interested, and can start stirring things up at his present club, looking for a new contract (or they slack off on the field) or a move. Of course when he does go, Nick will say he wasn't really that good and can be easily replaced. (Had to get the dig in Nick-but I do appreciate all the work you do running this site)

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highfield49 added 15:52 - Nov 2 With a long contract already signed, steady improvement towards genuine world class and his age taken into account I think the bidding starts at £80 million. And therein lies one of the problems for Saints because that is the gap between our sponsorship deal and the likes of Manure. Hate to say it but if his head gets turned we start the recruitment cycle all over again. However, this time around the club can actually get something close to or in excess of his real valuation. And with rumours of Chinese interest in buying the club we could be in for significant unexpected change.

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the_saint added 18:24 - Nov 2 I know he signed a 6 year contract but does anybody know if there is a release fee written into it ?
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SanMarco added 18:56 - Nov 2 VVD and his agent will know carroll...
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leighsaint added 19:41 - Nov 2 If John Stones is a £50 million pound player VVD is worth at least twice that amount
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SaintPaulVW added 20:30 - Nov 2 But....we've got Van Dyke...
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BarnetSaint added 21:08 - Nov 2 Unfortunately not only can i see him going at the end of the season, i also fear it will be to one of the usual suspects, ie the spoilt brat brigade of liverpool most likely. For starters we seem incapable of extracting the kind of huge transfer fee that everton for example did with stones. So somewhere between £30 to £35 M. Depressing but thats the cycle we're in. I would imagine his replacement, in the £12M range is already being identified.

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abingdonsaint added 08:42 - Nov 4 I sometimes wonder about the fans on here! We have had years of unbroken success, yet some are constantly questioning board decisions as though we have relegated every season. As I said before, VVD's long term contract puts us in control of the situation here, and his performance last night indicates to me at least that he is engaged with the club. The general reality though is that the biggest clubs can triple players wages, so when contracts are running down we are in an impossible situation. And we don't get top fees? Really? Ask Liverpool! And anyone thinking a Chinese takeover will change this doesn't understand FFP. The way we have done business recently has been superb, and we are the envy of the country. Perhaps there is a genius out there who could suggest an alternative way of doing things? I would be really impressed.....

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