Southampton ready to spend Virgil van Dijk cash on Theo Walcott and Moussa Dembele
SOUTHAMPTON have begun plotting their rebuilding process after selling Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool for £75million.
The Saints confirmed that they agreed on a world record transfer fee for the defender last night.
Southampton currently sit 14th in the league table and are now making moves to bring in reinforcements to try and steer away from a relegation battle.
According to reports, Arsenal’s Theo Walcott is the number one target on boss Mauricio Pellegrino's wish list.
The attacker has yet to start a Premier League game this season and his chance of an England World Cup call-up looks all-but over.
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The Mirror report that Southampton are willing to meet his £140,000-a-week wages after recently coming into money, but it is unclear whether the deal would be a loan or permanent.
But they will face stiff competition from Everton and West Ham.
It is also suggested that the Saints are tracking Celtic’s Moussa Dembele.
The 21-year-old has been in fine form north of the border netting eight goals in 20 games.
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The Mirror add that Celtic would let Dembele go for more than £20m, but Arsenal, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are also circling the youngster.
Since selling Van Dijk to Liverpool, Mauricio Pellegrino has outlined his January plans.
“Obviously, we don’t have this money to go to the market to bring the best players in the world, but we have got our targets that we want to bring in with this money,” he said.
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“We were (the board) talking about the couple of targets that we got. I would like to bring a couple of players minimum and we have to work for this.”
Walcott moved to the Emirates Stadium from Southampton for £12m in 2006 after becoming their youngest ever player.
And his return could now be in the pipeline when the window reopens in four days’ time.
