Revealed - Why Liverpool ended up 'paying £25m more' for Virgil van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk has signed for Liverpool for £75m, a world-record fee for a defender.

Southampton officials believe their decision to block Virgil van Dijk’s move to Liverpool last summer has been justified as they have ended up extracting a further £25m from the Anfield club by finally agreeing to allow his record breaking move to go through on January 1^st.

Liverpool confirmed on Wednesday that they have agreed a £75m deal to sign Van Dijk, a few months after their attempts to bring the Dutch centre-back to Anfield ended in acrimony and no little embarrassment for the Merseyside club.

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Now we can reveal the inside story on why Van Dijk’s transfer was allowed now after it was so resolutely blocked last summer, with the chain of events that led to a record breaking deal for a defender unfolding at a rapid pace in recent weeks.

Saints chiefs held a meeting earlier this month when it was decided they could no longer hold on to a player who continued to agitate for move, despite their ongoing reluctance to sell the player to Liverpool after their unsolicited talks with the player and his agent last summer.

Southampton’s anger at the attitude of Van Dijk and his agent led the club to take a stance that they would not consider a sale last August, even after the Dutch centre-back handed in a transfer request and pleaded for a move to Liverpool.

Saints believe Liverpool were preparing to offer a fee of around £50m if they had been offered a chance to negotiate a deal for Van Dijk last summer, but the south coast club were always keen to ensure that any deal for their in-demand defender would exceed the record transfer fee for a defender.

Kyle Walker’s £50m move from Tottenham to Manchester City last summer cemented their belief that they could set a price tag in excess of £70m for Van Dijk, with Liverpool now confirming those expectations were not unrealistic as they have agreed to pay a fee of £75m to seal the deal.

It brings to an end a transfer saga that became acrimonious last summer, with Southampton determined not be bullied into a move by Van Dijk and his advisers, as they refused to open talks even as the player claimed he was not ready to play in matches at the start of the season.

Saints chiefs hoped Van Dijk may reconsider his position after the club halted his first attempt to leave the club when he still had four years left on a contract he signed in the summer of 2016, yet the player made it clear that he was still eager to leave in a meeting earlier this month.

That was was the moment when Liverpool were invited to open negotiations for Van Dijk, with Saints officials still hoping Manchester City or Chelsea may make a rival offer and start a bidding war in the last few days.

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Yet when Van Dijk’s determination to move to Liverpool was backed up by an offer that exceeded Southampton’s initial £70m valuation of the player last week, the decision was made to do the deal with Liverpool and look to use the money to bolster a threatdbear squad in next month’s transfer window.

Liverpool have ended up paying a lot more than they were expecting to hand over last summer, with Southampton content with a deal that hands them a chance to revive a flagging season that has not been helped by some indifferent performances from a less than committed Van Dijk.

In essence, all parties believe they have emerged from what became a messy and acrimonious transfer saga with their pride intact, with Liverpool getting the player they have wanted throughout 2017 and Southampton collecting a fee that is far in excess of what they expected when transfer rumours surrounding Van Dijk surfaced at the start of this year.