Chelsea join Manchester United and Manchester City in chasing Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk

Chelsea are considering a move in signing
Southampton star defender Virgil van Dijk in the
January transfer window. Antonio Conte has set
his sights on bolstering his defence with the
Netherlands international.
According to The Times, the Blues will rival
Manchester United in signing the centre-back as
both teams look to bolster their central defending
position. The west London club play with three
men at the back and the Italian manager is
already looking for a replacement for club captain
John Terry.
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Van Dijk moved to St Mary's Stadium from Celtic
in 2015 and has been a regular inclusion in the
starting lineup in his debut season. Claude Puel
replaced Ronald Koeman as the latter took the
vacant job at Everton.
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Under Puel, Van Dijk has impressed and has been
a key player for the Saints. His form has seen
him attract interest from top Premier League
clubs who are planning for an approach when the
transfer window opens next month.
Jose Mourinho is also looking at the option of
bringing in a central defender in January to
further strengthen United's defence for the
second half of the season. Conte will want his
side to challenge the Red Devils in their efforts to
sign the Southampton captain.
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Chelsea and United are not the only club
interested in Van Dijk. The Mirror reports Pep
Guardiola wants Manchester City to challenge
these two clubs in signing the defender, who is
valued at £40m ($50.3m).
The 25-year-old signed a new six-year deal with
his current employers earlier in May. Any
approach for the top Premier League clubs will
force them to spend big in landing him in January.
Southampton will not let Van Dijk leave for cheap
and the asking price should not be an issue for
Chelsea, United and City.
Meanwhile, the Saints have been knocked out of
the Europa League following their 1-1 draw to
Hapoel Be'er Sheva at home. Van Dijk has
expressed his frustration following
Southampton's exit from Europe's second tier
club competition.
"I'm very disappointed – I feel s*** to be honest
with you. We need to do much better, especially in
the first half," Van Dijk said, as quoted by
FourFourTwo.
"We knew how they were going to play — we
needed to do much better especially with chances
we had, and every time they broke on us it was a
bit dangerous. We needed to get our organisation
right instead of always attacking. That's
something we need to talk about.
"We just need to focus on the league the most
now. The EFL Cup is special, but with the current
group we can do something beautiful in the
league. But we need to be clinical and not
concede stupid goals like we did."