Liverpool move for van Dijk to be BLOCKED by furious Southampton

Southampton have told Virgil van Dijk and his representatives that they are still determined to block his dream move to Liverpool, Yahoo Sport have been told.

After months of agitating for a move away from Southampton, Dutch defender van Dijk finally submitted a transfer request on Monday, with the strongly worded statement issued by his management company appearing to end any hope of a resolution between the player who signed a new six-year contract last summer and his current employers.

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“Over the past six months I have held numerous discussions with representatives of the board, the former manager Claude Puel as well as the new manager Mauricio Pellegrino to inform them all of my desire to leave the club in search of a new challenge,” the statement read.

“I am incredibly ambitious and want to achieve as much as I possibly can to fulfil my potential in what is a very short career as a professional footballer. I want to play European football again and challenge for major honours and as such I would like Southampton to consider the interest in me from top clubs should it still exist.

“I have been left frustrated by the club’s position that I am not for sale and am disappointed that enquiries from multiple top clubs have been consistently rebuffed.

“The period of time that I have just spent injured and unable to play has put a number of things into perspective and made me realise just how important it is to take major opportunities should they arise.”

Southampton have offered no public reaction to the latest move by Van Dijk and his management team to force through a transfer, but we understand there is a mood of determination at the St Mary’s Stadium club not to be pushed into submission by their star performer.

We understand that van Dijk told Southampton officials last May that he wanted to move on this summer and by then, he had already held detailed talks with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp over a summer move to Anfield.

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Chelsea and Manchester City also spoke to van Dijk’s representatives, but there is a feeling that Liverpool’s overall financial package for the player and his management company is more lucrative than their Premier League rivals and that is the key reason why he is so determined to move to Anfield.

However, Liverpool’s approach to their bid to sign Van Dijk has backfired, with the Anfield club forced to issue an apology to Southampton following their illegal approach for the player and as a result, they are relcuatant to make any further moves to sign the player unless they are given the green light by the Saints.

Questions may be asked of recently appointed Liverpool Sporting Director Michael Edwards over his aggressive and so far unsuccessful approach to sign van Dijk and now it appears Southampton’s reluctance to consider selling the player to the Anfield club remains firm.

Southampton are also believed to be furious with van Dijk’s management company, who are the same group that represented Ronald Koeman in what turned out to be his acrimonious exit as Southampton manager to take over at Everton last summer, with the fraught relationships from a year ago not helping negotiations now.

With relations strained between all sides in this messy transfer story, it may be that a solution could be found by selling Van Dijk to a club other than Liverpool, which could open the door to a £75m bid from Chelsea or Manchester City in the final weeks of the transfer window.