Liverpool dance to Southampton's tune to get their £75m man Virgil van Dijk

On that occasion in June, Liverpool’s unconditional apology for their conduct was on the club’s website within an hour of Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger and Reed making it clear to Henry and Gordon that nothing less would do.

Most outside of Southampton had expected the club to cave during the summer window and sell Van Dijk – but not Liverpool’s American owners. They knew that Southampton meant it when they said the player was not for sale. At Saints the feeling was that they needed to lay down a marker to their own squad, and in the wider industry. If they had told Van Dijk he was staying, then he had to stay.

Why sell him four months later? Firstly, the aforementioned point of principle, that the timing of Van Dijk’s departure would be dictated by the club, not the player. Also, there was a significant uplift in the fee in the intervening period. No official bid was made by Liverpool in the summer but the signs were that they would have come in at around £55 million and might have gone up to £62 million. By this month, Southampton had fixed the price at £75 million and FSG paid it.

Despite a brief wobble when he released a statement on Aug 7 accusing Southampton of reneging on promises – all complaints he had already conveyed in private – Van Dijk had not been any trouble. He was popular in the Saints dressing room and even operating at less than his full formidable potential, he was still a better player than lesser mortals. But the plan was that he would go in January, and the club are encouraged by the development of his replacement at left-sided centre-back, Wesley Hoedt.

Van Dijk represents the latest great trading success for Southampton, a player signed for just £13 million and astutely managed with long-term contracts to protect his value. His last wage at Saints was £65,000-a-week which has almost trebled to £180,000-a-week at Liverpool. Van Dijk was in plain sight of the Premier League for two years at Celtic where he was watched by many – none of whom felt ready to take a risk on him.

Ross Wilson, the Southampton director of recruitment and scouting, and a Scot who began his career at Falkirk, was instrumental in Van Dijk joining the club. So too Southampton’s late chief scout at Southampton Bill Green, who suffered a fatal heart attack in August. It only needed a few games in the Premier League to see that Van Dijk had all the attributes to be a success.

It has not been an easy season for Saints, without a win in eight games but encouraged by Saturday’s draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. Under Reed and Wilson the club has always worked to a long-term plan and never lost its nerve whatever the temporary fluctuations in results. They will sign players in the January window.

A return for Theo Walcott is on the cards with the player keen to come back to the club he left 11 years ago. His £120,000-a-week wages at Arsenal would be the sticking point and it may well be down to him to take a pay cut. Walcott is 29 in March, and Southampton still see a lot of untapped potential.

Walcott was the first to leave in what has been a remarkable line of players out of Southampton, including Gareth Bale, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, Morgan Schneiderlin, Calum Chambers, Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama and now Van Dijk. Six of them ended up at Liverpool and there was also Toby Alderweireld, on loan at Saints for one season, and now one of the top centre-backs in the league at Tottenham.

Naturally some point out the great team that has been lost. The club see it differently. For example, if Lovren had not left in 2014 they would not have signed Alderweireld on loan from Atletico Madrid that summer. If Alderweireld had stayed in the summer of 2015, they would not have signed Van Dijk. If Clyne had not left that same window they would not have brought in Cedric Soares, the Portugal Euro 2016 winner who is so highly regarded.

That impressive list of Saints old boys were never destined to play in the same team. By necessity Southampton are a trading club, and there is nothing to be ashamed of in that, especially when you happen to be the best when it comes to uncovering top talent at low prices. Although no deal has been quite as well-executed, or as profitable, as the £75 million transfer that will be ratified on Monday.

Real deal for Hazard? Don’t bank on it despite father’s mischief-making

In the long and comprehensive history of players linked with Real Madrid, there are few who have cropped up as regularly as Eden Hazard now in his sixth season at Chelsea, contracted to 2020 and more than likely to sign a new deal next year. This time it was his father Thierry creating the mischief although Eden himself has never been less than clear that he sees his future at Stamford Bridge.

Of course, one never knows with Madrid but it will be five years come the summer that they broke the transfer record for Gareth Bale. There have been signings since then, although no records broken and last summer they were around £50 million in profit on player trading. It is understandable why they are cited as the club who can turn the head of any player but it should also be pointed out that even in their most acquisitive periods over the last 15 years they never managed to get any of Chelsea’s leading stars.