It was embarrassing how we handled Liverpool transfer saga - But we didn't love what they did

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But throughout the summer, the Magpies had been adamant that the striker was not for sale.

At one point, it looked like the Reds might have been made to wait in their efforts to sign the 25-year-old, only for Newcastle to soften their public stance towards the end of the transfer window.

Consequently, Liverpool were successful in their efforts to sign Isak.



But his move only came after the Reds had been forced to end interest in the centre-back the previous summer as they were accused of making an illegal approach to Van Dijk.

In an official statement at the time, the club said: “Liverpool Football Club would like to put on record our regret over recent media speculation regarding Southampton Football Club and player transfers between the two clubs.

“We apologise to the owner, board of directors and fans of Southampton for any misunderstanding regarding Virgil van Dijk.

“We respect Southampton's position and can confirm we have ended any interest in the player.”

That did not stop Liverpool from revisiting their interest the following window and landing Van Dijk in a £75m deal.

Looking back on the transfer saga, former Southampton CEO Martin Semmens has now admitted he considers it ‘embarrassing’ how the Saints handled the situation at the time.

Lifting the lid on how Liverpool’s conduct had angered Southampton, he also conceded that forcing Van Dijk to stay put at St.

It didn’t work well for us.

“We didn’t [get him back on our side].

Virgil was fantastic, in my opinion, he trained at 75 [percent] and played at 75 [percent] and was still the best player in the team, if not the league.

“He didn’t cause us any problems.

He never said a single bad word to anyone, but he wanted to go, and it wasn’t effective for us to keep the player.

“We kept him until January.

At that time, probably a little more for the morals, he had already met Klopp before he told us.

“But in the end, he did a very good job for us and we sold him for a good price.”