Virgil van Dijk was strangely linked with a move to Borussia Dortmund at the weekend, with sources in Germany now explaining the Bundesliga club’s stance.
The fallout of Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at West Ham, and the almost certain collapse of any title hopes, led to plenty of speculation over the future.
Mohamed Salah was touted with an exit following his row with Jurgen Klopp on the touchline, while Van Dijk was sensationally tipped to join Dortmund.
Those rumours came via the Sunday edition of the Mirror, and were quite clearly nonsense – but now German publication BILD has explained the club’s view.
It is outlined that Dortmund are expected to seek a replacement for Mats Hummels this summer and that Van Dijk’s wages are not a massive difference to those earned by Niklas Sule.
But Dortmund sources told BILD that a deal for Van Dijk would be “economically difficult to realise,” while they aim to “focus on promising talent” in the transfer market.
In other words, Van Dijk is too old and too expensive to make sense for a club like Dortmund.
Case closed, then. Another ridiculous rumour to add to the pile as summer approaches and Liverpool endure a difficult end to Klopp’s reign.
The club do, however, face a decisive period when it comes to their captain, who will enter the final year of his contract at the end of the season and turns 33 in July.
With the imminent appointment of countryman Arne Slot – along with an assistant manager in Sipke Hulshoff who works with the No. 4 as part of the Netherlands national team – the likelihood is that Van Dijk retains a key role.
Despite this miserable drop in form at the most important stage of the campaign, Van Dijk’s revival this term cannot be overlooked.
For much of the season, Van Dijk looked back to his best, and he is likely to remain a cornerstone of the Liverpool squad for years to come.
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