Kelechi to Soton in a swap with Bertrand?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3908459/southampton-manchester-city-kelechi-iheanacho-pep-guardiola-ryan-bertrand/

Saints have now joined the pack looking to snap the youngster up, with new boss Mauricio Pellegrino wanting a star forward for next season.

And City could be interested in selling the Nigerian ace to the South Coast side if full-back Ryan Bertrand was part of the deal.

Pep Guardiola is a huge fan of the 27-year-old England defender, and sees him as an option should other targets not be signed.

The ex-Barcelona boss is hoping to land Dani Alves, Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker all within the next three weeks.

An Etihad source said: “Southampton are now part of a long list of clubs that want Kelechi this summer.

“If the right offer comes in, he will go, and Ryan Bertrand is an option that has been talked about in the past.

Pay Soton £25M and give them Kelechi for Van Dijk.

my thoughts too dawg

You know what, I'm not arsed about Van Dijk. There's no way Soton are going to let him go for anything less than £65m....which is just ridiculous. He ain't that good!

Kelechi and Bony for Van Dijk and Bertrand. We can give them a little cash as well.

Nope...I'd rather us pay £50m for Bonucci at his age, than £65m or £70m for Van Dijk. We have Stones as a natural young replacement who can learn from an experienced world-class CB - Van Dijk ain't world class...he's had one good season for Celtic FFS.

Then we've Yoyo out on loan to learn his trade...why are we trying to invest ridiculous amounts of money on a CB when we spent £50m on one a year ago? Doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

I actually agree that Bonucci is a proven player at the highest level. We should have pushed for him last year but I just can't see us going for him this summer.

So who will we get at CB as it's all gone rather quiet on that front?

No idea....but I can't see us paying £70m for Van Dijk as that would be ridiculous.

Maybe Hernandez or Laporte from Atletico? No idea....

I don't believe we will pay 70 million for van dijk. But I disagree on the he's only had 1 good season for celtic. He had a good season for celtic got his move to Southampton & had 2 good seasons there. He is only 25 & has proved he can mix it with the best in the prem. Good in the air, good in the tackle, good on the deck, & is quick. All the attributes of a top class centre back & he has them in abundance. But I still d not think he is worth 70 million. The trouble is with the prem having so much money to dish around how do you rationalize as to who ois worth what.

$40 to 50 million for Walker 50 million for Sanchez who will be a freebie next year. Hernandez & Laporte were both reported to be 50 million.

He only played 26 games each season for Soton....how is that great???

Everyone gets injured. Look at Sergio de example

Please don't compare Sergio to Van Dijk.

Haven't we got enough sick notes at CB?

I mean Sergio probably played around that number of league games in between injury and suspensions.

It is very rare a centre back will play all league & cup matches in a season we have not had that luxury since the years of Dunne & Distin. all of the top clubs last season were missing 1 of their 1st choice centre backs for some part of the season. Should I say that the 26 or so games each season van dijk has looked the part, but the times he was injured means he was rubbish????

If you take into context 26 games is 2/3 of the season in league games then that isn't a bad stat. Not 100% ideal but like I said who played 100% of games at centre back last season?

He didn't put a foot wrong in any of the games he didn't play last season...

Appearances by CB's for last season in the PL:

Ben Gibson 38
Joel Ward 38
Gary Cahill 37
Craig Dawson 37
Matthew Lowton 36
Gareth McAuley 36
Adam Smith 36
Ashley Williams 36
Michael Keane 35
Ryan Shawcross 35
Simon Francis 34
Ben Mee 34
Jose Fonte 33
Robert Huth 33
Laurent Koscielny 33
David Luiz 33
Jan Vertoghen 33

Then you have to go a long way down...to find Van Dijk who played 21 PL games.

I never said he was rubbish, I just think he's vastly overrated for £70m. If it was £25m, then fair enough.

Like I said also Blue that whatever we think is a realistic fee has been totally distorted by the ridiculous fees clubs are paying for average players. Walker for 40 million plus? my personal opinion says he is 15 million tops. But I am not doing the valuation the selling clubs are? I definitely do not think Van Dijk is worth 70 million but if that is what Southampton value him at then lets see if they can sell him for that?

I think somebody will pay £70m for him....as lots of clubs are really struggling to secure signings; Chelsea, United, LFC, Arsenal...all are having players knock them back.

I just don't think Van Dijk is that great. He's decent, but I think what we need is another very experienced CB, not another young player as we have Stones. I'd much rather we had a Bonucci to help these players, as we can't rely on Vinny to stay fit all season (hope he does!)...but if he's out, Otamendi and Stones isn't a great pairing and I wouldn't like to see VVD and Stones either...not yet. Add to that we've just signed Yoyo on a 5-year contract, so I'd like to see him in the next year or so.

Two tears ago , walker and rose were £15M players. Now we're talking £30-£40M. Can Dijk may, in our opinion, be max £25M but today's price is £50M+. The market is well distorted.

I agree, the market is mental....however, we're talking about £70m for a player who only managed 21 games in the PL last season...and that was through injury, not resting him. He also missed 95 days of football 3 years ago with injury.

We're talking about £50m for Bonucci...yet somewhere close to £70m for Van Dijk who's done absolutely nothing...at least Stones is English!

as I said all along van dijkis definitely in my opinion not worth 70 million & I would agree 20 to 25 tops. However Southampton own the player so they pull the strings. Bonucci is 30 & to me 50 million for a player who has 3 yrs left at the top max seems anawful lot. The only way he can be of benefit is to get someone like yoyo to learn from him day in day out.The other problem I have is that in tserie A you never hear of central defenders being out for great lengths of time ( I could be mistaken but don't recall too many ) which leads me to think that the style of the Italian league makes for less injuries coz as soon as they arrive in England they automatically head for the treatment table.

I think they're generally super-fit in Italy.

Not sure Bonucci only has 3 years left at the top...if fit enough, he could have another 5 years. Even if it is 3 years, by then, you'd have to hope that Yoyo and Stones will be ready.