Virgil van Dijk has his heart set on joining Liverpool and is determined to push through a £60million transfer this summer, according to the Sun.
The newspaper claim in their print edition (Sunday 16 July, page 66) that the Southampton centre-back is weighing up whether to hand in a transfer request to ensure he gets the move of his dreams.
The Sun report that Van Dijk, 25, is “insisting he will only move to Anfield” even though Liverpool issued a public apology to the Saints last month and withdrew from the race to sign him after being reported to the Premier League over an illegal approach.
Intriguingly, it is said that new Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino will not stand in the centre-back’s way of moving to Anfield, which is a shock stance and seemingly at odds with the hierarchy of his club.
Officials from St Mary’s Stadium suspected that the media had been briefed by Liverpool sources at the start of last month that a deal was likely and also claimed to have evidence that manager Jurgen Klopp had privately met with van Dijk.
Southampton have not withdrawn their complaint, but accepted an apology from Liverpool and no further action was taken.
Klopp would have feared at that point that the chances of landing his No1 defender were dead in the water but the situation has now seemingly changed.
Van Dijk, who is widely regarded as one of the outstanding players in his position in the Premier League, signed a new Saints contract last summer that runs until the summer of 2022.
Liverpool have made two new signings this summer, landing winger Mohamed Salah for a club-record fee of £39million and striker Dominic Solanke from Chelsea for a price to be settled by a tribunal.