According to latest reports, Arsenal have picked up acceleration in their pursuit for highly-rated Premier league centre-half Virgil van Dijk. The Dutch enforcer has been on the summer target list of every top English club that includes the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City.
The race for the 25-year-old’s signature will be tight and with Arsenal determined to go big this summer, after increased controversy and uproar by the fans and critics, the Gunners are hoping to win the war. The defence has been a huge problem for the Gunners this season as they have conceded 40 goals already with seven games to go.
New recruit Shkodran Mustafi has had a brilliant start to his debut season with the North-London side before things went south as the season panned out exactly what it has been for the past decade. The repeated injuries to ageing skipper, Laurent Koscielny, has helped little as second choice Gabriel Paulista has failed to impress.
Things went out of hand, so much so, that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who has been an advocate of the four-man defence for the past 21 years was forced to shift his back line to the trending three-man setup. While it has fetched a win in the first away game itself, it would need quality individuals to hold it.
Apparently, the 67-year-old wants to stick with it now and is planning his summer shopping around that formation. The Gunners have already landed Schalke left-back Sead Kolasinac from Bundesliga, as per reports, with current full-back Nacho Monreal returning to Spain at the end of the season. And Van Dijk is next on the list to join the side.
Despite heavy protests from the fans, the club seems to stick with their age-old manager for another two seasons with numerous policy changes; and getting in star players regardless of the amount is one of them.
The Dutch centre-half joined Southampton from Scottish giants Celtic in 2015 for £13m. He has since then become an established player for the side and the club is well aware of the massive interest that their prized asset has garnered. Van Dijk possess terrific dribbling and passing attributes, which makes him similar to Mustafi, and his inclusion will bring in immense competition for the role.
Van Dijk’s contract with Southampton ends at 2022 and it goes without saying that whoever manages to land him, will do that at quite a price. With Arsenal, increasingly likely to participate in the Europa League next year, the squad would need immense depth to endure the hectic fixtures that come with it.
