The latest development in the Virgil Van Dijk saga has seen the situation turn very unsavoury and this has led to the media starting to turn on the player himself and applaud Mauricio Pellegrino for his stance.
The media are not impressed by the latest developments in the Virgil Van Dijk to Liverpool transfer saga, whilst they are still happy to use it to produce headlines, some journalists have looked at the bigger picture and the fact that if Van Dijk does refuse to play and Saints cave in then it has a lot of ramifications in the future, players refusing to honour contracts will rip apart the game.
Perhaps it will have a good affect, perhaps the authorities from the Premier League, through UEFA and up to FIFA will recognise the issues in football and deal with them, but I somehow doubt it.
ESPN have hit the nail on the head with an article on their website this morning, with the headline "Van Dijk saga turns unsavoury but Saints should be lauded for staying firm" ESPN go on to say.
"Now their board have to back the Argentine by delivering on their promise to keep Van Dijk at least until the end of the upcoming season and stand up to player power."
"By effectively sending van Dijk into exile, Pellegrino has struck a blow not only for Saints but for every so-called smaller Premier League side who are bullied by their more illustrious rivals and egotistical players."
"However the real test of Southampton's determination not to cash in on their sought-after captain is still to come."
"How many clubs of Saints' stature have claimed a player will not be sold, only to go back on their word once that star name begins creating friction on the changing room?"
"When Southampton stood up to Liverpool so publicly in June those fans had their faith in the beautiful game partially restored, not least because Van Dijk himself only signed a lucrative six-year contract to become the best paid player in their history just last summer."
"They also remember how the imperious Dutchman spoke about his "pride" at the "honour" of being given the captain's armband following Jose Fonte's exit to West Ham in January."
"Where is Van Dijk's pride now as he trains alone while the rest of his teammates head off on a preseason tour of France? Where was his honour when he held alleged secret meetings with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp about a move to Anfield?"
Van Dijk should have been stripped of the armband as soon as those tawdry details began to emerge on newspaper back pages. That he wasn't was down to Southampton's belief he would act like a model professional, accept their decision not to sell and get his head down and prepare for the season in the right manner."
"But Van Dijk clearly has other ideas and continues to hanker over that switch to Merseyside. Now it is up to Southampton to show him bullies do not always win."
A very accurate overview of this situation and the one which football faces by Alex Crook and the whole article can be viewed using the link below, I think it sums up exactly what not just Saints fans are thinking, but also fans of those clubs who continually are preyed upon by the bigger clubs by those who think they have a god given right to take whatever they want.
In fairness most Liverpool fans I have spoken to on Merseyside or those that attend their games, although they want Van Dijk, they do not like to see it done in such a manner, they would rather it be done in the right way, the comments we have seen on social media cheering every underhand move, demanding we stop holding the player hostage etc are mainly from the armchair supporters, those that support clubs like Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea etc because they want to follow success and not for any other reason.
For that type of fan, created by the likes of Sky TV over the past 25 years or so this type of behaviour is acceptable unless it is the likes of Barcelona doing it to your club.
Read the full article below.
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/club/southampton/376/blog/post/3163939/van-dijk-s