Virgil van Dijk created a minor stir when he dared step outside the Southampton post codes and turn up somewhere in London. This can obviously mean only one thing: he’s signing for Chelsea! Or Liverpool! Or, you know, he just went for a visit because he’s a normal human being doing normal human being things.
Van Dijk is in London, will he join Chelsea Football Club? pic.twitter.com/R4RTzc1lJ1
— ConteTweets (@ConteTweets) August 16, 2017
In any case, that Instagram story by Van Dijk’s friend was eventually deleted, but the Internet never forgets.
Neither does Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger (K-UGER!), who reiterated his club’s “very very adamant” stance on selling players, including the 26-year-old wantaway center back. We can probably include right back Cedric in this group as well as Saints try to upgrade their selling club narrative, especially with fresh new owners on board.
“Virgil is not for sale in this window and it's not personal. It's not about him, it's about an overall much, much, much bigger picture - a change of course for Southampton.
"The first summer I was here five players went out and six went in, not counting academy. Second summer three went out, seven came in, and third summer five went out, five came in. Now it is one out and two in, and this is who we want to become.
"We want to mature, we want to be a team that can profit from synergies that create a much more attractive football and a better product for the fans, and gives us a chance to get back into Europe.
“That's one player in this whole equation of 25 and it is the visible one, but for us it's the principle and it's the path and it's the statement we need to make to get to a new space as a club.
“We are very, very adamant about carrying this through. The new partnership has completely and wholly backed our strategy and plan and on September 1 people will see how serious we were and are."
-Ralph Krueger; source: Sky
Southampton are confident that they will successfully reintegrate Van Dijk despite the transfer request he submitted a couple weeks ago. Given that Chelsea’s most immediate needs lie at other positions, we can probably move on from this story for now.