What Next for Virgil Van Dijk and Southampton FC ?

Having watched this affair since Liverpool botched up the initial transfer and was forced into a public humiliation and public apology it’s pretty clear both parties are entering the final round of a high stakes game of poker with parties potentially losing out massively.

Let’s first look at Van Dijk and his worse possible scenario. This is pretty clear Southampton refuse to sell him and he has no choice but to play football until January at the very least at a club he clearly no longer wishes to play for worse than that he will potentially lose out on a salary increase of up to some 25 Million before tax depending if the reported wages being offered are correct. This could be why he is so strongly forcing for a transfer now.

Now let’s look at Southampton’s potential losses in this. Well the reality the directors at Southampton are already hindering the team for the new season and new manager because whenever you have a situation like this it affects team morale so much so they lost a friendly in midweek 4-0 at home to Augsburg which isn’t a good sign for the forthcoming season. The second problem in reality because of Van Dijk age he is likely to be a decreasing asset and this season would be the optimum season to get the best price for him. More importantly it’s hard to see him ever being motivated to play for Southampton again when their action have literally cost him millions. Also what do they do with him after 31 August having him playing for the first team will not improve the team morale for sure? The pluses would be Southampton finally make a stand against having their players raided which would be great for the fans but maybe a hindrance to signing new players who thought they could use Southampton as a stepping stone to clubs like Spurs and Liverpool.

So both parties have a lot to lose with Van Dijk having more to lose after 31 August if he doesn’t get his move and Southampton having the worse of it up until that date.

So what more can Van Dijk do to force his move considering he is tied in to another 5 years of his contract that he willingly signed a year ago. Believe it or not the answer does actually lie in taking legal action to try and break that contract with a very clever lawyer. The solution is to inform Southampton that it has become impossible for him to fulfill his contract and he won’t play for the club again but he appreciates that his decision has consequences for the club and is prepared to compensate the club for the damages his actions have cause the club. The reality is those damages would be a lot less than the 70m transfer fee being talked about. 

The problem for Southampton here like most Premier League clubs is there is no buyout clause fixed to the contract so any court is very likely to see Southampton compensation demands excessive. The court cannot make a worker fulfill his contract especially if the worker is prepared to compensate his employer for the fact he no longer wishes to work for him. Southampton can hold onto his registration but they cannot be unreasonable in accepting a fair amount of money to release him from his contract.

An example of this but not related to football was the long-time dispute between Epic Records (now Sony) and George Michael where he refused to record for them again whilst under contract to them they took out an injunction but eventually took a settlement for losses as they realized they couldn’t make an Artist record against his wishes. Rolling the years onto Van Dijk the same situation applies for Southampton.

If Southampton do not transfer him and he took this action the implication for football clubs is huge and they will realizes the only way to protect themselves is to have a buyout clause inserted in all contracts as that actually stipulates the compensation the club will receive should he wish to find another club.

There are many twist and turns to take place with Southampton possibly accepting an offer from another club like Manchester City or Chelsea but refusing to accept the same offer from Liverpool. In this instance they could force the player to a club he doesn’t want to go to as the alternative choice is to go to court and play for a club that he clearly doesn’t want to play for anymore

Clearly it is in both club and player interest that he leaves but will Southampton find a way to get rid of the player without losing face?

Thanks for reading and I do apologize if you were expecting to read about International real estate investment but for once I wanted to write about a subject close to my heart even if I don’t make any money from it.