Chelsea are ready to hi-jack Liverpool’s bid to sign Virgil van Dijk and hand Celtic a £5m transfer boost.
According to a report in The Mirror Antonio Conte has pleaded with the Chelsea board to bring in new faces with a disappointing performance in the Community Shield against Arsenal confirming his side’s problems.
Despite officially withdrawing their interest in Van Dijk Liverpool are still the bookies favourite to sign the defender who has been in dispute with Southampton for two months.
With the new Premier League season kicking off at the weekend Southampton face the dilemma of having an unhappy £60m asset on their hands.
The club have repeatedly said that they won’t sell the Dutchman but the players approach has made it increasingly unlikely that he can ever play again for the club.
Southampton paid Celtic £10m for Van Dijk in 2015 with the hoops having a sell-on clause in the deal.
A 10% cut on the profit could see £5m heading into Brendan Rodgers’ transfer funds with Van Dijk becoming the most expensive defender in the game.