I mentioned yesterday that the stories regarding Virgil Van Dijk were in the main planted in the press by Liverpool's PR team and now it seems the club agree and have reported Liverpool to the Premier League.

After a meeting this morning of the club's board Saints have decided to report Liverpool to The Premier League regarding a possible illegal approach for Virgil Van Dijk, the Daily Echo has reported that Saints are "seething" at what they see as a raft of stories all emmenating from journalists with close connections to Liverpool FC all appearing at the same time on Monday afternoon in what was a concerted well drilled PR campaign aimed at not only undermining Manchester City's alleged bid but also at unsettling the player.

Most of the stories intimated that the main reason for Van Dijk wanting to join Liverpool was because of Jurgen Klopp's direct involvement in encouraging Van Dijk to choose joining Liverpool over any other club and Saints believe that this in itself constitutes an illegal approach.

The Echo further reports that this situation has had the opposite effect than the one that Liverpool intended, far from putting pressure on Saints to sell Van Dijk to the Merseyside club, it has hardened their resolve to keep him and indeed if they are forced to sell, they are far more likely to do so only to another club rather than Liverpool.

In recent years Liverpool have taken five players from St Mary's and in several of those transfers Saints have been concerned about the manner in which the Anfield club conducted themselves and approached players under contract at St Mary's before contacting the club itself, back then the club were not in a strong position to say no to the money offered due to the players contracts all being run down and no sign of a new one being signed, but that is not the case with Virgil Van Dijk who has five years left on a six year deal signed only last year.

It will be interesting what the Premier League has to say about these things, but one thing is for sure Saints will not be brow beaten as they were in the past, they are in control of the situation and although Virgil Van Dijk has seemingly not said a word on the subject yet, all of the reports do not contain anything near a direct quote from him, all seem aimed at getting his head already in Liverpool as was the case with Dejan Lovren, therefore making it easier to pressure Saints into a sale, this time bullying tactics are not going to work !

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 13:02 - Jun 6 Betting on Van Dijk to Liverpool has been suspended twice now. I think this is down to Liverpool’s PR campaign and also the arrogant assumption that Southampton would definitely sell if an offer of more than £50m came in. While I would be understanding if we do end up selling and get more than £60m for him, I agree with the fans who have been saying that Southampton should make a statement of intent and hold onto him or at least another year. As Krueger has said, the work of the club to get all our players on long term contracts allows us to do this. It feels like an important part of the evolution of the club to show that we will not be bullied and that top clubs cannot take any player they want from Southampton.

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bstokesaint added 13:04 - Jun 6 It's about time. Liverpool are taking the p1ss out of this club, culminating in them feeling aggrieved to the point of holding mock PR announcements because a bigger, better side has had the audacity to outbid their pitiful bid. I hope the FA come down on them hard and place an embargo on their dealings. To anyone on that Saints' board I would say show some &*^^%% pride. NO MORE DEALS WITH LIVERPOOL. It's simple stuff folks.

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dirk_doone added 13:15 - Jun 6 "To anyone on that Saints' board I would say show some &*^^%% pride. NO MORE DEALS WITH LIVERPOOL." Totally agree with this. if we are that desperate to sell players, there are plenty of other clubs who will pay just as much if not more than Liverpool do. Better still, we should keep our best players for longer before selling them. Mane would have stayed for another year and I expect van Dijk would too if they believed the club wasn't looking to cash in on them at the earliest opportunity.

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the_saint added 13:42 - Jun 6 Simple just don't sell him to them that's the end of it. Can't see the FA doing anything they just protect the big clubs and want them to pinch all the good players so to do better in European competition. Now if it was us they would come down on us hard.
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landerwal added 13:50 - Jun 6 Enough is enough. Even the board I think realise that there would be the real danger of a major revolt from fans if VDD was sold to Liverpool. The Saints are right in reporting Liverpool to the FA when a larger club is attempting to bully another into selling a player to them by all underhand means possible. It is typical of a club, that does not produce any players of it's own, merely poaches from others, in a vain attempt to bring back it's distant glory days. Interesting to see that it is "reported" today that Liverpool are looking to use their players in any deal with Saints showing that they still want VVD on the cheap.

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DPeps added 13:57 - Jun 6 I hope that the club is true to its word and that we keep VVD for at least another season. He is such a good player that, barring some massive injury, his value is only going to increase. Selling VVD now would leave us needing at least 2 CBs, which would be kamikaze to say the least
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SaintBrock added 13:59 - Jun 6 The PL does not have the balls or inclination to take action against one of its pride & joy BIG clubs so this will be kicked into the long grass unless SFC lawyers have all the evidence needed for a "conviction" and are prepared to pursue this to a satisfactory conclusion. If the PL take no substantive punitive action then presumably there is an appeal process through FIFA that SFC can take.

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Consigliere added 14:13 - Jun 6 Sorry chaps but I think the Board's move (realistically) is really all about pushing up the price. Could be really resist an offer of (say) £100m? I'm not saying I like it, just looking at it from a business point of view.
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pete_boggs added 14:34 - Jun 6 Les is doing his usual. Discredit player or manager that's leaving trying to cover his ar*e when he had planned all along for him leaving as he had included a release clause in VvD's contract. He's also trying to get Puel to hand his notice in. Seems like Puel has outmaneuvered him on this one by refusing French job so Les will have to cough up £6m+ to get rid of Puel. I didn't expect that one, good on Puel! Les is having a torrid time. Great! he's been asking for it!

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SanMarco added 16:50 - Jun 6 So that's a 50p fine for Liverpool. I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above comments about NOT selling to Liverpool.
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SaintPaulVW added 17:42 - Jun 6 As much as I don't like him we need a bit of Daniel Levy style behaviour on this one. The Player's on a long term contract so he's going nowhere unless we say so. Unless people are offering an eye watering amount this shouldn't even be considered this year. Yes he will probably be sold eventually but if you can't get a good deal in these circumstances then shame on us.

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SaintPaulVW added 17:45 - Jun 6 Ideally he will stay but realistically for probably only one season. So no hurry on our part to listen to anyone.
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Jesus_02 added 18:03 - Jun 6 We are getting easier and easier to "negotiate" with. If we do eventually sell to Liverpool it will be an absolute embarrassment. The Puel situation is equally embarrassing. With the St Etienne offer on the table saints should be able to settle for a slightly smaller loss than otherwise. However my expectation is that we will hold on...and on...and on... and completely make a hash of pre-season as a result

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leighsaint added 19:43 - Jun 6 Let the club get some balls no matter how much they offer no more sales to Liverhampton. Enough is enough Fxxx off we are your equal with out your debt
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ExiledSupporter added 21:51 - Jun 6 I heartily agree with most of the comments above, so two other points too add: 1. if we sell VVD or RB or indeed almost anyone else it will demonstrate to any incoming manager that we are by habit (or genetically) a selling club and that Koeman was right in his reasoning for leaving ie. not enough ambition, and that the new manager will have less to work with than he might have expected. As a result we may (again?) be forced to settle for a less highly rated replacement for Puel than we would like. 2. you can be sure that however high a price we get for VVD's sale we will have to pass a large % of that over to Celtic - probably part of the reason that we got him so cheaply in the first place

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DPeps added 22:53 - Jun 6 Exiled - the sell on to Celtic is 10% I believe
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steve73 added 23:09 - Jun 6 As the comments above prove, if the club have any regard at all for their fans then he must NOT be sold to that lot. I'm way beyond sick to death of them. If he goes to City, fine. Chelsea too. But god not them. They used to be a club of such integrity but now they just stink; nauseating manager, deluded fans and a cartel style business model. I wish them nothing but poor luck and many, many more seasons of failure.

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