Chelsea Confident Of Trumping Liverpool As Blues Prepare Formal £50m Defender Bid

Managers are now pressing ahead with their plans for the final weeks of the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, Chelsea are ready to make their move for Virgil van Dijk….

Chelsea are confident of beating Liverpool to the signing of Virgil van Dijk as the Blues prepare to test Southampton’s resolve with a formal £50m bid this week, according to the Mirror.

Van Dijk’s future has been the subject of much debate this summer and the centre-back went public with his desire to leave St Mary’s after issuing a statement last week confirming he’d handed in an official transfer request.

The Dutch international has been training on his own away from the main Saint squad after expressing his frustrating that the south coast club have rebuffed offers from several top club this summer.

An initial move to Liverpool collapsed back in June after Southampton reported the Merseysiders to the Premier League for ‘tapping-up’ the player while Chelsea have also been strongly linked in recent months.

Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire to make further additions to his squad before the transfer window closes at the end of the month and it looks as though the Blues boss is now ready to formalise his interest in van Dijk.

The Mirror claim Chelsea are set to test Southampton’s resolve with an offer worth at least £50m over the coming days and are confident they can lure van Dijk to Stamford Bridge despite the player reportedly having his heart set on a move to Liverpool.

The Reds vowed to end their pursuit after Southampton reported them to the Premier League but the newspaper says they remain interested in securing a deal if the Saints agree to do business and van Dijk is believed to be keen to play under Jurgen Klopp.

However, the Express reported last week that Southampton would rather let the 26-year-old rot in the stands than sell to Liverpool as they are still furious at how the Anfield club behaved earlier in the summer.

If true, it’s easy to see why Chelsea have grounds to be optimistic they can secure a deal and obviously van Dijk would be a superb addition if they could lure him to west London.

READ MORE –> Chelsea transfer news | Liverpool transfer news

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming days but it appears van Dijk is going to be at the center of things as we head in to the final weeks of the window and it’s going to be interesting to see where he ends up.