Catalan newspaper Sport on Friday claimed Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to sign Virgil van Dijk in the January transfer window. Rather than it being from other rumours, Sport reckoned they’d had the claim backed up.
On Saturday they take Guardiola’s Manchester City press conference words, not ruling out a winter transfer, as something to further back their claim up.
Southampton’s Van Dijk has been linked with several top clubs, following his performances since moving to the Premier League from Celtic. It would be no surprise if Guardiola is keen on the defender, given the perception of Manchester City being weak at the back.
John Stones has faced widespread criticism, and been dropped, since moving to Manchester City, and Van Dijk could be the man to help steady the former Everton player.
From a Southampton perspective there seems little reason to part with Van Dijk, given he has a contract until 2022. There’s no danger of the 25 year old’s value falling due to a contract ending, so Manchester City would have to be very persuasive, maybe even having to offer similar to what was paid for Stones.
