City close on £60m deal for top target Van Dijk
Manchester City are closing in on a £60million deal for Southampton centre-half Virgil van Dijk.
The Premier League leaders have made the recruitment of Van Dijk their priority in next month’s transfer window and are increasingly confident of landing the Holland defender ahead of Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona.
City are in talks with Southampton over a transfer, with the South Coast club now prepared to cash in on the 26-year-old, who is contracted at St Mary’s until June 2022.
Pep Guardiola tried and failed to
sign a centre-half in the summer when West Bromwich Albion rejected a £21million bid for Northern Ireland defender Jonny Evans and City were unable to offload Eliaquim Mangala. But Vincent Kompany’s persistent injury problems have left the league leaders light in central defence and that situation has been exacerbated in recent weeks after John Stones was sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Guardiola has been concerned about disrupting the harmony in the dressing room, which is one reason why City are likely to wait until the summer before moving for Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez, not least amid concerns about the potential repercussions with Sergio Aguero. But the City manager is keen to guard against any more central defensive headaches by bringing in Van Dijk. He would initially
come in as third-choice centre-half behind Stones and Nicolas Otamendi should City pull off a deal but Guardiola believes he has the quality to become an important long-standing addition. Inigo Martinez, of Real Sociedad, and Evans have been City’s other centre-half targets in the event a move for Van Dijk hits complications.
Antonio Conte is desperate to bring Van Dijk to Stamford Bridge and the Chelsea manager has already urged the rest of the Premier League’s big clubs to try to keep the player out of City’s clutches.
Liverpool tried and failed to sign Van Dijk last summer and were reported to the Premier League by Southampton over an alleged illegal approach for the defender. The prospect of losing out to City on a primary target would be a serious blow to the club.