Graeme Kelly claims that Liverpool are close to signing their fourth player in the summer transfer window and this one could be the defender we have been looking to sign, to fix our back-four for a while.
The insider was speaking to the podcast Code Red and was quoted by the Daily Express that Virgil van Dijk would be joining our side before the end of the transfer window.
“I’m being told it’ll definitely still happen. It’s about Southampton getting their ducks in a row and it looks like they’re doing that with the kid from Lazio. There should be movement on that at some point this week.
“Southampton haven’t come out and gone to town on us. When they got the new manager, it was like backhanded conversations they were having.”
Kelly also spoke about our infamous meeting with the Dutch defender in Blackpool and also added that the 26-year-old is available for sale.
“With Southampton, they were well up for a deal. Everyone goes on about [meeting him in] Blackpool and things like that.
“We had permission to speak to Van Dijk in Blackpool. There were things we didn’t have permission for and that’s why we made the apology.
“Chelsea met him, City met him, he is actively for sale. That wasn’t the issue beforehand. The issue was that something happened in the press that took a bit of Southampton’s power away. That’s the situation with them.”
Our “tapping” up of the former Celtic defender saw us publish an apology to all parties involved and we even backed out of the deal to sign the talented defender. We have only brought in three players in the summer window so far, with Andy Robertson being the latest player to sign for us. But we have been tracking Van Dijk for more than a month now.
There has been a lot of frustration regarding the signing of the Dutchman as Klopp has deemed him to be his priority signing.
There have been a fair share of last minute transfers coming into our squad and if we act smart we still would get Van Dijk in. The Dutch defender would surely make our central defence better and would ensure that we don’t concede too many silly goals.
Southampton might be playing hardball to get the price they want but Van Dijk is not training with the side and wants a move away from the club. This would significantly reduce Southampton’s negotiation power. There is no point keeping hold of an unhappy player and the sooner Southampton realise that, the better it would be for all parties.
https://youtu.be/4ng5Nb4Cdk0
