Southampton admit defeat over Virgil van Dijk with Manchester City poised to swoop
The Dutchman was left out of Mauricio Pellegrino’s squad for the Boxing Day trip to Tottenham
The Dutchman, who failed to force through an exit in the summer after handing in a transfer request, was left out of Mauricio Pellegrino’s squad for the Boxing Day trip to Tottenham.
Speaking in the wake of Southampton’s 5-2 defeat by Spurs, Pellegrino insisted he had no regrets about keeping van Dijk in the summer, despite the defender’s mixed run of form in the first half of the current campaign, but suggested the club are now resigned to losing the 26-year-old.
“We tried to do the best for the team. The board decided to try to keep our best player at the club. This situation is a big learning curve for everybody and now we decide what is the best for the club,” he said.
“The manager decides what is the best. We win, draw and lose, with and without Virgil. We have to wait until January. I can’t control the market so we’ll see what happens.”
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has set his sights on bringing in a central defender next month due to the current injury concerns of his backline.
Van Dijk is the top target for both Guardiola and director of football Txiki Begiristain and it is understood Southampton are willing to do business, with the defender’s recent exclusion from Pellegrino's match-day squad the latest indicator that a deal is close to being secured.
However, the City hierarchy are highly mindful of the problems that arose with Liverpool’s very public interest with the Dutch centre-half in the summer.
To complicate matters, Liverpool remain interested in the defender and could make another move in January while Chelsea have also been linked to the player.
If City fail to land Van Dijk, attention is expected to turn to Real Sociedad’s Inigo Martinez and West Brom’s Jonny Evans.
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