We can imagine Southampton fans were throwing the remote at the television last night when Jamie Redknapp described Virgil van Dijk as a fantastic professional, following the Dutchman’s transfer request and jaw-dropping pubic statement that came with it!
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But according to our former midfielder, who also represented the Saints later in his career, the 26-year-old is a brilliant man as well as footballer – who’ll actually get his head down and perform for Southampton if they do in fact refuse to let him go.
“What I will say if that there is enough people that know him. I know the people at Celtic who worked with him, and they say he is a fantastic character,” Redknapp told Sky’s ‘The Debate’ which aired last night.
“He’s a winner. No [he’s not a rotten apple]. If he does stay at Southampton, he will get on with it and he will be exceptional for them. That’s the sort of character I hear that he is. But I think he will force his way out of there.”
We’re not sure what to make of Redknapp’s quotes, in all honesty!
We cannot see van Dijk staying at St. Mary’s, regardless of their current stance, which hasn’t changed despite the transfer request.
Eventually, when an expensive asset is sat in the reserves causing trouble, they get offloaded – every time.
In terms of the player, we can understand his position, but also why the fans are so angry. At the end of the day, nobody put a gun to his head when he penned a six-year extension, but a footballer’s top-shelf lifespan is short – and just like we would in our every day lives – he wants to move to a better, bigger ‘company’ on more money.