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Liverpool and Barcelona fell out in a big way over the Catalan club’s attempts to sign Philippe Countinho in the summer. Now the ill-feeling between the two clubs may be set to intensify with news that Barcelona may try and beat the Anfield team to the signature of Dutch centre-half Virgil van Dijk.
The Southampton defender was heavily pursued by Liverpool over the summer, before they were forced to apologise to The Saints for making an illegal approach for the player. However, Liverpool are expected to revive their interest, with van Dijk recently expressing his wish to still move to Anfield to play under Jurgen Klopp.
Now comes news, however, that Barcelona may be set to hijack the move, after they sent scouts to watch the defender play for the Netherlands against Sweden in the recent World Cup qualifiers. Manager Ernesto Valverde is said to be keen on acquiring defensive reinforcements at the Nou Camp, with Javier Mascherano set to leave Spain at the end of the season, and Gerard Pique ageing.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.