While Southampton battle to keep their star player away from Liverpool, the Reds are in a fight of their own as Barcelona hover.
All summer long the threat of Virgil van Dijk’s departure has loomed over Southampton.
Liverpool have been hovering all summer, and are 4/7 favourites with SkyBet to win the race for his signature despite officially pulling out of the pursuit two month ago amid an alleged tapping up storm.
But while Liverpool’s desire to make a potential record signing puts Southampton under pressure, they are now experiencing what it is like to be on the receiving end of transfer interest.
The Reds are having to bat off interest from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho, with the Catalan club set to spend big after selling Neymar to PSG for £198 million.
The developments are not lost on Southampton fans, who are glad to see Liverpool getting a taste of their own medicine, having repeatedly raided the Saints in recent seasons.
The nightmare scenario for Liverpool would be to sell Coutinho and miss out on Van Dijk.
If they cave in and sell the Brazilian and Southampton stand firm over the centre-back, big questions will be asked by Liverpool fans, and Saints supporters will be even more gleeful.
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