Virgil Van Dijk submits transfer request at Southampton

Virgil Van Dijk has submitted a transfer request to formally announce his intent to leave Southampton. The Dutch defender has been rumored with a move to every Premier League giant all summer, and now we know he wants to leave.

Van Dijk says he wants to play European football, and the desire to take part in the Champions League this season was key in him making the decision to leave. Liverpool and Chelsea have had the strongest links with Van Dijk, but Manchester City have also shown interest and could go after him now that the transfer request has been handed.

It’ll take a lot of money to convince Southampton to sell, and the club that signs him will need to pay at least £50 million. In theory, that’s a lot of money for City to spend on a backup center-back already having Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones in the squad, but Van Dijk is arguably better than all of them except Kompany. Vinny and Van Dijk would form a truly wonderful pairing, and it might be a good idea to sign him now.

Let’s see what happens next.

UPDATE: Manchester City are denying any interest in Van Dijk, even though they’re still looking for a central defender, says Jack Gaughan of the Mail.

We’re probably going for a much cheaper option than Van Dijk, it seems.