It looks Liverpool are having a rough week in the transfer market as the club released an official statement regarding us dropping our interest in Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk (BBC). The statement from the club clarifies any doubt that remains in our pursuit of the Dutch centre-half and it is now certain that he wouldn’t join us this summer.

The club’s statement read,

“Liverpool Football Club would like to put on record our regret over recent media speculation regarding Southampton Football Club and player transfers between the two clubs. We apologise to the owner, board of directors and fans of Southampton for any misunderstanding regarding Virgil van Dijk. We respect Southampton’s position and can confirm we have ended any interest in the player.”

With the pursuit of Van Dijk now completely off, the club are active in chasing other targets though, as reports have emerged claiming we have bid for Real Madrid star Marco Asensio after Manchester United launched a bid for the player as well.

According to the reports from Spanish outlet Dario Gol, the Reds have launched a £43million bid for Real Madrid sensation Marco Asensio. The move from us could well have been triggered by reports claiming that rivals Manchester United had also lodged a bid for the talented attacking midfielder.

The 21-year-old enjoyed a good season as he scored 10 goals and set up 4 in 38 appearances for the Spanish giants. He seems to have earned the faith of Zinedine Zidane and chances of luring him away from the Spanish capital are pretty less.

However, if Klopp can offer Asensio more game time than what he is currently being offered at Santiago Bernabeu, the young midfielder might fancy a move. Also, £43million for a player who is still unproven seems a bit excessive. But sadly, that’s the current scenario in the transfer market as the number of world class talents in England has reduced massively.

This is the reason why the English clubs are paying over the odds to land their targets. Also, the English clubs earn a lot of money from TV deals and eventually end up spending a significant part of their revenue on their transfer targets.

Anyway, Marco Asensio is a talented young lad but the price tag is a bit high considering his age and experience. Also, going for a bidding war with a club that overpays to sign their targets might be a bad idea and it is better if we wait until the situation becomes a little favourable to us.