Defiant Saints won’t take less than £70m for Van Dijk

SOUTHAMPTON will reject bids that fall short of their £70million-plus valuation of Virgil van Dijk, with club officials confident they will retain him unless a world record fee for a defender is agreed. Saints played hardball with Liverpool by reporting them to the Premier League for ‘tapping up’ the centre back, forcing the Merseyside club to apologise and end their pursuit of the player. Both clubs met League officials in Harrogate yesterday and Liverpool were told they would discover next week if they are to be sanctioned over the affair. Manchester City and Chelsea remain interested in signing 25-year-old Van Dijk. The record for a defender is the £50m Paris Saint-Germain paid Chelsea for David Luiz in 2014. Van Dijk has five years left on his contract and Southampton feel under no pressure to let him leave unless it is on their terms. Saints feel they are in a strong position and chairman Ralph Krueger is adamant they do not need to sell any of their players.