Virgil van Dijk submits transfer request to Southampton

Virgil van Dijk has been the subject of serious transfer speculation all summer, and has remained patient while Southampton scared away bidders. But the Dutch center back isn’t willing to wait around anymore — he’s handed in a written transfer request.

The last straw was, apparently, a fine. "Unfortunately I feel I have no alternative after I was given notice of the Club's intention to impose a disciplinary sanction against me of a fine equivalent to two weeks wages,” van Dijk said in a statement. “I will be appealing what I feel to be an unjustified sanction and their inability to follow the correct disciplinary protocol in due course.”

Van Dijk also accuses Southampton of leaking their side of stories to make him look unprofessional.

Earlier this summer, van Dijk appeared to be very close to moving to Liverpool. Southampton wasn’t pleased about the way the Reds went about the deal and reported them for tapping up a player under contract. While Liverpool escaped punishment, they weren’t thrilled about missing out on one of their top targets.

With today’s news, the phones at St. Mary’s are likely to start ringing off the hook. All of Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City have been heavily linked to van Dijk this summer. Everton might even get in on the action.

Southampton has spent every summer since they made it to the Premier League trying to hold onto their best players and mostly failing. They seemed especially intent on not caving in the face of big money offers from Premier League rivals this time around. But it’s hard to envision a scenario in which Virgil van Dijk is still a Southampton player on Sept. 1.