Pellegatti is not letting the Van Dijk story go. On his YouTube channel this week the Italian broadcaster repeated the claim he has made for months and put words directly in the mouth of Milan’s owner.
“Either we will sign him now by paying for him, or we will sign him for free next year,” Pellegatti quoted RedBird Capital Partners boss Gerry Cardinale as saying.
Pellegatti then reached for the parallel he has used before.
“Every now and then they make fun of me over Van Dijk, and I accept the teasing. But they also made fun of me in January before Zlatan Ibrahimović arrived, and he arrived a year later,” Pellegatti said.
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Van Dijk’s Liverpool contract runs until June 2027 and no extension has been announced. The 35-year-old Netherlands captain stayed at Anfield through the summer transfer window and remains club captain under Andoni Iraola, appointed on 4 June to succeed Arne Slot.
At Milan, Rúben Amorim was appointed head coach on 16 June after leaving Manchester United. Neither he nor the club have addressed Pellegatti’s claim publicly.
Van de Ven the reported £90m target
The Liverpool side of the equation is where the numbers are being written. CaughtOffside reported this week that the Reds have identified Van de Ven as the profile they want, with the Tottenham defender named as a potential long-term successor to Van Dijk. TeamTalk, citing the same reporting, put Tottenham’s asking price at £80m to £90m and noted that a deal at the top of that range would eclipse Harry Maguire’s £80m as the highest fee ever paid for a defender.
Former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider the profile fits Liverpool’s need.
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“Van de Ven is somebody who has been on Liverpool’s radar for a long time. He’s certainly somebody who would fit the bill when they’re looking to replace Van Dijk, because he’s left-sided, physically dominant, he’s the captain at Tottenham too,” Brown said.
Tottenham’s leverage is not theoretical. Van de Ven signed a new five-year contract in August that runs until 2031, and was appointed club captain for the 2026-27 season. Manchester United are also monitoring the 25-year-old Dutchman.
The Netherlands press-conference row
The Milan noise landed less than a fortnight after Van Dijk had a spiky exchange with a Dutch reporter over accusations he had forced former Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman into a back-five system at the 2026 World Cup, where the Dutch went out to Morocco on penalties in the last 16.
“One of your colleagues also said, of course, that it was my idea to switch to playing with a back five. That is utter nonsense,” Van Dijk told the press conference ahead of the Netherlands’ Nations League fixture with Germany, according to Sky Sports.
“The plan is devised by the staff. Nonsense is being spread so that I look even worse.”
Van Dijk’s Anfield contract expires in June 2027. No new terms have been made public by Liverpool.
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