Liverpool will enter negotiations with Southampton this week in order to finalise a deal for Virgil van Dijk, after the Dutchman agreed to join us yesterday.
The 25-year-old centre-back has rejected the attention of both Chelsea and Manchester City and wants to instead join Liverpool because Jurgen Klopp has convinced him of our project.
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Liverpool set to sign Virgil Van Dijk; CB rejects Chelsea, City – Just fee to be agreed
Liverpool though still need to agree a fee with the Saints, whose best players seem to move to Anfield every single season.
According to the Telegraph, Liverpool are keen to use Mamadou Sakho as part of the deal, rating our frozen-out Frenchman at £30m. We’re also willing to throw more players into a deal which will work out at over £50m – the world-record fee for a defender.
Importantly though, if we give Southampton players in exchange and a smaller transfer fee, they’ll have to give a smaller sum to Celtic, who inserted a 10% sell-on fee into the deal when Van Dijk left Scotland.
Whether they want any of our players remains to be seen, but Sakho proved at Crystal Palace that he’d be a great signing for the South Coast club. Hopefully they fancy him, but if they don’t – Liverpool will be happy to spend £60m outright.