Anything other than the response of "We will talk next summer" is extremely poor from the board. The only exception being if we made promises to the player last summer but I find that unlikely.
I still wouldn't sell him. Though I accepted we probably will since mid season. Don't reckon well get 60 either.
I'm not going to get angry when he leaves (unless we really don't get much) as I pretty much accepted it a long time ago. Don't know why so many people thought he would stay. Contracts mean **** all, bar price.
It is what it is. You are naive to think that a club of our size would refuse to consider a bid of £50/60m, sadly.
We would get the same price or probably higher next summer as well as a year of having a top player. Not one reason we should sell now.
Was that in response to me? I know we will, I can still see him going for less than that. Just saying I wouldn't personally sell him even for 60-70 million. There has to come a point that no matter how good a deal it looks on paper for us, it would simply be better to keep him. He'll still likely be worth the big bucks next Summer. If we don't stand firm now, when we have a player with 5 years on his contract, who got made team captain in January and has been injured for 5/6 months too... then when exactly will we?
True, But the market now may be very different next season. For all we know there could be a gentlemans agreement based on champions league clubs. I just pray it is not Liverpool.
Okay, so why didn't Berahino join spurs? Why didn't Wanyama leave the summer before last? Why didn't Schneiderlin leave when he wanted to? Because they were all under contract and forced to see out another year or more of that contract. Say we reject this bid and tell van dijk he can go next summer. What do you think happens? A) He refuses to play and we make him sit in the stands until he is 29 (No player ever) B) He has a bad attitude and stays but doesn't perform well at all (Berahino) C) He accepts one year isn't that long and has another brilliant year before leaving next summer (Schneiderlin) My money is certainly on C. That's my take on it anyway and certainly what I would do if I had control of the decision.
So we just accept that do we? "Listen Virgil, you were happy enough to sign a 6 year deal less than a calendar year ago. You've also been made team captain since. It is not unreasonable for us to expect you to honour at least a 3rd of that. You will not be going anywhere this Summer. Get fully fit and have another great season and it'll be the really big boys next Summer. We won't stand in your way of any CL club at the time but at this point we consider you integral to our plans next season" End of conversation. If he strops, I'm sure he'll get over it pretty quick when he realises he's contracted here for the best years of his career. I'm not denying player power exists. I'm saying we don't have to bend over to them if we don't want to. (I suspect we want to)
All depends if we think we can get now compared to next season. Then factors in how Van Dijk feels. People need to accept he is most likely going.
I have accepted it - though I know you're not necessarily aiming that at me - I've spent half the season telling people on here he will go I'm just saying that in a hypothetical situation we can say no if we want to. I believe with 4 years left his value isn't going to depreciate much.
See my above post. Do you not agree that if we said to him he can go next summer but has to stay for this summer he would accept it? As for what we can get next summer; I'm very confident his value will only go up.
Contracts don't mean anything apart for more cash when you sell. I'd rather him go to City then Liverpool. I was told along with the Targett/ Bertrand stuff that Liverpool were favorites and trying hard to get him.
Another thing I've been saying on here for ages. As for City over Liverpool, I think we can all agree on that one. As I've been saying about Virgil all season, he will go when the answers to the following 2 questions are both 'yes': Has another club met the boards valuation? Does he want the move?
