Former Chelsea man Joe Cole has suggested the Blues should have gone “really big” for Virgil van Dijk when his Liverpool contract was expiring last season, as well as some Paris Saint-Germain stars.
Liverpool were in a period of massive uncertainty last season, with Mohamed Salah and Van Dijk both out of contract. Trent Alexander-Arnold was in the same position, and left for Real Madrid.
Fortunately for the Reds, neither of the aforementioned pair followed him out the door, though Salah could do soon amid tensions due to his playing time this season.
There were opportunities for both to leave, and former Chelsea man Cole feels the Blues should have gone hard for Van Dijk.
He told Paddy Power: “I would have gone down the road of going really big for Virgil van Dijk when he was coming to the end of his contract at Liverpool last summer.
“You need seasoned winners in the side. I’d be looking at the PSG squad, which I think is bloated. Players who understand winning and know how and what it means to win.
“I don’t think Arsenal are going to be able to keep up with all their players, certain players there will be available at the end of the season.
“Unfortunately, none of the top, top players are going to be coming to Chelsea, because if they’re available, then the Man Citys, the Arsenals and the Liverpools will come calling and they will go there first. So Chelsea are still in their rebuilding phase.”
Reports last season suggested that the Blues did in fact want to sign Van Dijk. Indeed, they were one of the clubs who were said to have explored a move for the Liverpool centre-back.
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However, it seemed evident once contract negotiations started over an extension at Anfield that he was not going to play for anybody else but them.
While it seems likely he will remain at Liverpool until 2027, when his contract ends, he might well walk away from the club beyond then, when he’d be nearly 36 years old.
If he is still performing by that point, Chelsea might once again be interested, having seen Thiago Silva perform for them at that sort of age, but there is a lot of football to be played between now and then.
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