Puel on van Dijk 'He has a long contract with #saintsfc he’s our captain and a very important player for us I want him for the next season'
If we get a decent price for him (which in my view is £50m - alas, I fear we won't get close to that), and that money is available to strengthen the squad, then I am totally fine with selling Virgil in the summer. Could improve the squad significantly with those funds.
What we wouldn't do is to get a better player than Van Dijk, best to keep him for a while, he might be worth more? Always assuming that the injury hasn't actually wrecked his future of course.
Exactly, this is a situation where we should be putting our foot down imo. If we don't in this situation then I fear we never will. At the end of the day, he was happy enough to sign a 6 year deal last Summer. We should make him honour at least a 3rd of that. I still reckon he'll go though, but I live in hope
I agree that we could improve the squad but I just feel that one more season of excelling at Saints could have us fetching Ronaldo/Bale size sums. The guy is that good. His value will only go up and I feel, having just been made captain, there is a slight annoyance if he jumps ship straight away. But I guess that's the way our captains work.
I assume not, no. But then I never thought we'd get someone better than Toby. The club proved me wrong then. But even if we don't, I still look at it as weakening one position to improve multiple positions (and, at the same time, squad depth). I take that. But only, only, if we get a decent price for him. If we get something around the £30m or £35m mark, then my feeling is very different.
If true it is what I expected. I am not ITK at all but you only have to look at how many of the top sides are short in centre backs and left backs that it seemed pretty likely that there would be pretty serious interest in VVD and Bertrand. And we are still Southampton and they are still the top clubs in the country so the player would want to go
It is a delicate balancing act, I guess that having the much maligned Les Reed in situ gives us an advantage, he doesn't get it right some times, but has pulled a few rabbits out of the hat in the past.
No matter how much we get offered this summer, even if it was a ludicrous figure such as £80m, we should reject it. At 25 and still improving his value will only go up next season. If we get offered £80m this year, we would get offered similar values next. The longer he stays with us the better he will get and the more his value will increase, so with 5 years on his current deal we need to keep him this summer regardless. It really is that simple.
If we were to only get that with 5 years left on his contract. I think there would be uproar. I reckon 45ish
I think he would be better for City really. Be a calming influence on Stones and could be a partnership to build for years. If I was Pep I would be asking the board to do whatever neccesary to get him.
I'm still not sure. They've spent £50m on Stones, £32m on Otamendi, £32m on Mangala (unless he leaves), and have Kompany (I know but still).
Indeed. He might be older than Stones but he's way, way better. Stones is a fairly solid, good, but limited English CB, albeit arguably the best of them. VVD is fast, dominant, powerful, very technical, and perhaps his greatest attribute is that he's Beckenbaueresque. To this day there really isn't another player like Franz Beckenbauer [OK, maybe Ronald Koeman], but VVD comes closest, in my opinion. That puts his price into a special category. With him you get two or three players, not just a CB. £50M would be an absolute minimum. Not that he'll be leaving this summer anyway. Long term uncertainties with his injury should see to that.
Did they snatch his crutches, take the picture, then catch him as he fell. He owes us another season, because we only had a half season this time. The problem is that the Saints board may prefer the money.