Celtic are a little like Newcastle when it comes to the transfer market, and they like to sign some good young players on the cheap, and then when they improve and their value goes up, they sell them at a big profit.
Virgil van Dijk – 22 year-old Dutch center-back
And the latest top young player Celtic signed last summer was Virgil van Dijk from FC Groningen for a fee of around £2.5M, but they will want a lot more than that if they sell the player this summer, after he had an outstanding first season season in Scotland, and he scored 5 goals in 47 total appearances for the Scottish powerhouse.
The Chronicle is reporting today that Newcastle are one of a number of clubs chasing the top rated defender, who we were interested in signing when he was playing in Holland,
Southampton are one of those clubs, and are in the lead for the player, and new Dutch manager Ronald Koeman could play a big part in convincing his countryman to sign for the Saints.
It’s not clear how much the 22 year-old would cost, but he’s a top rated player who got some rave reviews last season, and his value could soar if he plays well in the Premier League – so he could be a great investment for Newcastle.
His agent Henk-Maarten Chin recently said his client was headed for the top English League:
“Many English clubs are interested in him – the absolute top clubs. They watch him and are very keen.” “There has been no official approaches for Virgil yet, but that will come. There’s certainly far more interest in him than we could have dreamed of.”
“I expect something will happen for him this summer – the intention would be for him to earn a top transfer.”
That reference to the very top clubs being interested in his player obviously means Newcastle are one of them. 😀
But with other clubs also interested in the young Dutchman it could be difficult for Newcastle to get this defender to Tyneside, but if we do sign him, it would make another excellent signing to go with yesterday’s capture of Siem de Jong from Ajax.
While at FC Groningen the 6’4″ center-back played 66 games with 7 goals, so he can score some goals too, and is a good header of the ball.
He would be a great signing for Newcastle United.
Comments welcome.
14 comments so far
Spoof
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:30 AM
Comment #1I like the look of this lad, at 6ft 4″ tall he would be ideal for MYM as Mapou craves for a commanding CB partner and apparently MYM is back in the country stating that he wants to prove his doubters wrong, I hope he does and this lad could be helpful for him, it would be a partnership with lots of potential.
Toonfan8
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:36 AM
Comment #2I like this player, very talented, him and MYM as CB pairing would be awesome. He is tall and has a good shot in him, can score from free kicks as well
Average_Contents
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:38 AM
Comment #3Agree spoof I think they’d compliment each other really well and could be our CB for years to come (unless we sell them at a profit if they do well lol)
Lil
It’s been mooted at around 6-7m mate for SDJ
Lilongwe Geordie
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:45 AM
Comment #4Rumoured that Celtic want £8million for him. If Saints are truly interested, then that is a realistic price. We should just move on to the next one as we all know we won’t spend that on a young centre half from the Scottish league (again).
Don’t really have a problem with that, he has played in 2 average leagues and in Scotland is not exactly tested too hard. He may well be good in the Prem if he gets a chance, but he can’t beat Ron Vlaar into the Dutch team and Vlaar is hardly a top Prem centre half.
Last time we spunked £8million on a centre half from Glasgow, Sourmess pocketed his cut and left us with an awful Boumsong.
Lilongwe Geordie
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:48 AM
Comment #5Sorry, Sourmess pocketed his cut, allegedly.
Average,
Okay, so roughly the price that has been quoted for the last 18months since we were first linked. Will be interesting to see how he gets on as I haven’t seen much of him, but people seem split on his ability. Now we need a centre forward for him to play off.
Spoof
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:50 AM
Comment #6AC
the chances are that even if we do sign him that well past it Argentine will still play and drag Virgil down to his poor level whilst MYM gets classed as being Debuchy’s replacement which would be a travesty as he is not a fullback and Colo is no longer a centre back, but as we saw last season with the MYM/Willo break up Colo is still Pardew’s favourite, get Auriel or Micah Richards to replace Debuchy with Van Dijk, MYM and Haidara then with Tiote in front of them I feel we would have the makings of a decent defence.
nut meg
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:50 AM
Comment #7I woke up to good news this morning about SDJ. A good signing for me,we badly needed a brain,somebody who knows what to do in the final 3rd, who can see what’s going on around him because he plays with his head up.He will link up the play so there will be some team play at long last. Things are beginning to move forward so I hope it doesn’t stop there!
Lilo
I seen a report somewhere that said that the fee was around 6m for SDJ which would be about right as the reports from months ago said he leave Ajax this season for 7m.
Lilongwe Geordie
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:51 AM
Comment #8Totally off topic, but the quarter finals are shaping up to be crackers. Brazil Colombia should be a great watch, as should France Germany. Belgium Argentina won’t be as exciting I wouldn’t have thought, but promises to be an intriguing match. Finally Holland against Costa Rica will be a true David vs Goliath match.
musomag
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:55 AM
Comment #9Beats me why we didn’t snap up Jolean Lescott
lesh
Jul 2, 2014 at 8:36 AM
Comment #10Didn’t Virgil van Dijk play lead roles in Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
😉
magpiefifer
Jul 2, 2014 at 7:46 PM
Comment #11Would be a great signing – BUT we won’t – due to the fact that other clubs are wanting him and Ashley doesn’t entertain competition – it pushes the price above bargain basement level!
Shaker Shakrah
Jul 4, 2014 at 9:50 AM
Comment #128)
Shaker Shakrah
Jul 4, 2014 at 9:52 AM
Comment #13🙂
Shaker Shakrah
Jul 4, 2014 at 9:52 AM
Comment #14😉