Southampton will reject bids that fall short of their £70million-plus valuation of Virgil Van Dijk with top club officials confident they will keep hold of the player unless a world record fee for a defender is agreed.
The south coast club have already played hardball with Liverpool by reporting them to the Premier League for tapping-up the centre-back, forcing the Merseyside club into an embarrassing apology and to end their pursuit of the player.
Manchester City and Chelsea remain interested in signing Van Dijk, although as of Thursday no official contact had been made with Southampton and even then bids will not be entertained unless they meet Southampton's demands.