Bad news for Saints fans in that Ladbrokes have decided that Virgil Van Dijk to Anfield is a done deal and have suspended betting.
Betting firm Ladbrokes have stopped taking money on where Virgil Van Dijk will play his football next season. after the odds were slashed from from 4/7 to 1/8 to land the Southampton centre-half.
The odds for City to sign Van Dijk also shortened to 9/4 but Ladbrokes feel that this is a done deal and are not taking any more money on it.
Liverpool are being said to trump City's offer of £180k per week for the Dutch defender and pay him £200 k, this is of course far beyond the reach of Saints and they cannot hope to match that sort of price.
Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said:
"Once again, the Reds look set to snatch another Saints star in the shape of Van Dijk.
"After months of speculation, it seems both clubs have come to an agreement and we won’t be taking any more bets on this market.”
However it should be said that this is a fun bet market, it is very open to insider dealing with some unscrupulous players and managers trying to tip off their mates to put on a few bob, a change in betting patterns could be enough to persuade the likes of Ladbrokes that something is going on and that they could get taken to the cleaners .
Sadly this is football today and clubs like Saints just cannot compete on this level, already social media is filling with Saints fans complaining that Saints should hold Van Dijk to his contract and slagging off the club for not doing so.
But this is modern football and in fairness to Saints the fact that they did give him a long term deal means that now the likes of Liverpool come a calling they are in a strong position and don't have to take a cheap offer.
Indeed although the media is saying that Liverpool have won the race, no one is saying that Saints have actually agreed that he can go.
This situation is occurring because people in the game are whispering it is a done deal, the rumour mill is turning, however Saints have to play ball and they will only sell Van Dijk for top dollar.
If Saints pocket £60 million plus for the player it will give us a big boost in the transfer market in the summer and enable us to strengthen the squad even further, sadly Saints fans have to get real and realise what football is these days, we play the system better than most, whilst of course we would prefer to keep Virgil Van Dijk we should trust the club to get it right .
I would say though that our PR is appalling, this should not be coming on top of the current managerial situation, the club should have had that sorted long ago, instead they are again going to enter into a period of bedwetting amongst a section of the supporter base, they should have sorted the manager out before letting Van Dijk go.