If you believe the media then one of the greatest chases in history is taking place right on our doorstep in Brittania Road.

There have been some great chase scenes in movies, The Blues Brothers, The Italian Job even our own local comedian Benny Hill used to end each show being chased.

Now it looks just like the end of a Benny Hill show if you substitute Virgil Van Dijk for the Southampton comedian and put in a plethora of football clubs instead of a bevy of scantily clad women.

That is of course if you believe the media.

The latest rumours started where else but Merseyside, that is the natural place to start given Liverpool's well know defensive problems and their failure to address them over the past five years or so.

It all started in the usual manner, with little to write about a lazy hack put out a story about Liverpool ready to launch a summer bid for Van Dijk after Chelsea had pulled out and it esculated, before long every media outlet was carrying the story.

Bizarrely the journalist also claimed that Liverpool felt they would be able to knock Saints down from £50 million to £40 million due to the fact that they felt they had a good working relationship with us after signing so many of our players.

Soon it was getting worse and Liverpool fan websites were telling the World that Liverpool were already in advanced negotiations with Saints and about to agree a fee.

Then the rest of the World were in on the act, alternate headlines would claim that Chelsea were either pulling out or about to launch their own bid, that Manchester United were interested.

The Liverpool Echo even got in the act claiming that Saints were desperate to land Mamadou Sakho and were therefore going to use him as leverage in the deal, but wherever you look this morning there is a story about Van Dijk going somewhere.

The only thing they have in common is the name of the player and the name of Southampton Football Club, after that each story starts to change a little, this is because the media have to generate page hits or sales, you cannot regurgitate the same rumour 50 times, so you have to have a different angle on it to attract the attention of the reader.

The question at the start of this story asked " Just who is leading the chase for Virgil Van Dijk ?" the answer is very simple THE MEDIA !

Photo: Action Images

pete_boggs added 11:09 - Mar 28 According to Freddie, VvD is going nowhere, Saints don't need to sell. Or does that mean freddie is going in an imminent club sale rendering the VvD sale ok?.............
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bigrob68 added 11:29 - Mar 28 Anyone who thinks he will be sold for less than 60 mil is deluded
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dixiefrog added 11:52 - Mar 28 Unfortunately, I think VVD will leave as offers to both club and player will reach a point where the offer just could'nt be refused. However, I don't think any EPL club is big enough or have the financial clout to crash through the deal, my money will be on either Real Madrid, Barcelona or PSG gaining his signature.
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SanMarco added 16:17 - Mar 28 I have to agree with Dixie on this one - he will go. I think hoping that he won't is just storing up disappointment for some time in June or July. My guess is Barca - he is too big for Liverpool and the only EPL sides who might come in are Chelski and Man City. Of course if Koeman goes to Barca then it becomes even more likely he will go there.
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NYC_Saint added 17:17 - Mar 28 If he were to go to Spain it might not be the worst situation. Per Rom's comments re Barca there are plenty of excellent squad players that won't break the first 11 and after a while they just want to play regularly. Establishing a relationship with either Real or Barca might lead to two way flow of players that will perform well in england (as opposed to the Premier League where we are unlikely to get more than cast offs in return). Would obviously prefer he stay though.

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Jesus_02 added 17:52 - Mar 28 VVD is one of the classiest players to pull on the stripes and our record of cashing in is well know however I have a feeling that we may get one more season out of this situation. He is currently injured and as a result no-one will pay what he is worth. Anyway we desperately need to do something in the league next season to re-establish us as a club to buy above average players from. Who knows maybe this summer we will get the stability that we crave. Personally I would forgo any arrivals for simply keeping the players we have

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bstokesaint added 12:54 - Mar 29 In today's world he would be a marquee signing for either Barca or Madrid and realistically if it did come to anything then £60m+ is what he'd be going for. If he went to anyone in the Prem, other than maybe Chelsea, Man C or Man U he'd be selling himself massively short. He should be winning CL trophies. That said I'd be elated if he stayed a little longer.
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patred added 15:16 - Mar 30 I really do hope he does go abroad, that way we are not feeding our rivals. But I'd prefer he stayed another season, as we have been cheated of his 'best' by a dirty rat faced git that even plotted his managers downfall.. and I for one want see Virgil in a Saints shirt kick him up the arse.
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