It seems to be the saga of the summer down south but the future of Virgil van Dijk is something every Celtic fan is also paying attention to.
The former Celtic defender is on course to be the worlds most expensive defender with the financial heavyweight hitters in the English Premier League line up to try and procure the big man’s signature.
We said it when the dutchman played for in those famous hoops that when he did move on we’d be telling ourselves, ‘remember the time that guy played for Celtic’ – he was a different class at Celtic and has proven to be a massive asset to Southampton who seem to buck the trend when they see talent in the SPFL.
Yes, the tinpot league sponsored by your Nan was pivotal in Virgil van Dijk’s career progress and helping him achieve success beyond Scotland. Former manager Ronny Deila spoke last week about how he helped the defender lose extra weight he was carrying to become, quicker, stronger and an all more rounded defender. Virgil will tell you himself that Celtic have played a massive part in his career to date.
It’s no wonder now that the price on his head has went through the roof, hit the sky and is now orbiting the planet. With the money down south that gets thrown about on a whim, yesterdays reported bid by the Champions Chelsea was in £70million region. An extraordinary figure for a guy that was playing in the SPFL not so long ago.
There has been conflicting reports about Celtic’s sell-on fee with Southampton but it’s either 10% of the overall fee or 15% of the profit from the sale i.e Anything after £12million Celtic get a 15% cut of.
Southampton has been playing hard ball and no wonder, like they have done to Celtic, other teams are now raiding them for their best players. Wanyama went to Spurs last season, where Celtic got a cut of the fee and now van Dijk is about to prop up the Parkhead coffers in a monumental way.
What a time to be alive.
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