Manchester City readying astronomical bid to land Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk

Manchester City are lining up an astronomical bid to land Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk ahead of Chelsea, Everton, and Liverpool, according to The Times.

The 25-year-old only moved to St Mary’s back in 2015 after an impressive spell at Celtic, and although it took him a bit of time to adapt to the Premier League, he soon demonstrated his capabilities at the top level of English football.

And, prior to a nasty injury against Leicester back in January, the Dutch international was arguably the best defender in the top-flight this term, and it was his recurrent impressive displays which have attracted interest from the upper echelons of the Premier League, notably from champions Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, and Ronald Koeman’s Everton.

Yet it appears that Pep Guardiola’s City are seizing the initiative in the chase for van Dijk, as they are reportedly sizing up a £50 million bid for the defender, and are willing to offer him a £180,000-a-week five-year deal to move to the Etihad Stadium.

The Citizens struggled at times defensively under the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss this term, with both John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi guilty of high-profile mistakes, while captain Vincent Kompany did well when on the pitch, but question marks remain over his fitness.

And although they only conceded 39 goals in the Premier League, the fourth lowest tally in the division, it’s clear that the defensive department is the area they need to improve to challenge for the league title, as well as on the European stage, next season.

Should a deal materialise for £21.25 million-rated van Dijk (as per Transfermarkt), it would follow Bernardo Silva and the imminent arrival of Benfica goalkeeper Ederson as City’s third big-money signing of the summer, with Guardiola making his intentions very clear ahead of next season.