Manchester City currently seem to be the frontrunner to sign Southampton centre-back Virgil Van Dijk but Antonio Conte has just made a weird request to the Premier League leaders.
Antonio Conte has requested Manchester City to ‘pay great respect’ to the Virgil Van Dijk stance as he fears that if City keeps on signing every player then it will become very hard for other teams to compete for the title.
Conte told the reporters, “Every team, every club, must pay great attention. If a club like Manchester City takes all the best players, it will be very difficult for us to fight. Not only in England but in Europe.
“If they can do this, it is right for them to do this. We must pay great respect. When you have this opportunity to go in the market to spend a lot of money, I think it is right to do this.
“You must obviously be very good to spend your money in this way – sometimes you can spend a lot of money in a bad way. You must be clever to understand the positions, the roles you have to improve. In this case, you must be very good.”
Van Dijk was close to joining Liverpool during the summer but that move eventually did not materialize. Liverpool though hold a substantial interest in the Dutch International and are reportedly preparing a January transfer window bid for the centre-back. But Jurgen Klopp has made it clear that he will not enter into a negotiation if Southampton do not reduce their valuation of £70 million.
This stance from the Merseyside teams will play the transfer right into the hands of both Chelsea and Manchester City who are willing to spend £70 million. While Pep Guardiola has made it public that he is in need of a centre-back, Chelsea, on the other hand, might lose David Luiz at the end of the summer and they will want to find an apt replacement as soon as possible.
