Virgil van Dijk might not be the happiest person in England but at least he is playing football again. The Dutch defender was one of Liverpool’s major transfer targets of the summer but Southampton were not willing to let go of the 26-year-old.
The club also reported us to the Premier League and we had to submit an apology to almost every other person in the world and add that we would not be pursuing the former Celtic man. The worst part about the episode was that we didn’t sign a new central defender and Van Dijk was suspended by the club and was forced to train with the reserves.
Fortunately, cooler heads have prevailed and the Dutch defender has returned to the Southampton first team. Van Dijk also spoke to Fox Sports about his protracted move to another club failing, but added that something could happen in the winter window.
The defender’s quotes were carried by the Daily Star as he also said he would give it his all for the Saints.
“I have no regrets. Of course, I wanted to go one step up, but eventually Southampton did not want to let me go, but you’re a professional, so now I’ll give everything to the club.
“Halfway through the season, maybe we can see what’s possible.”
It would not be a surprise if Van Dijk does leave Southampton in the winter given how the club have not been able to reach higher ground under new manager Mauricio Pellegrino. However, expecting him to join Liverpool seems certainly feasible now, especially given our current form.
We might have to splash a lot of money for the Dutch defender but Van Dijk should make us a little better while defending.
Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip aren’t doing all that well and having Ragnar Klavan as the third option certainly is a recipe for disaster. Jurgen Klopp might have wanted his first choice targets at the club but not having a Plan B was a major error.
The revelation that Lovren has been playing using pain killers is another worrying sign and with us having a number of European games, our transfer activity seems to be riddled with holes, with some of the blame to fall on Klopp for sure.
We let go of Mamadou Sakho in the summer, and even if he did have a fall-out with Klopp, we should have signed another defender who could put in a decent performance or two.
It is tough to say if signing Van Dijk will solve out defensive woes but it is one small step to fixing a gaping hole that should have been dealt with last season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ng5Nb4Cdk0
