{"id":26112,"date":"2025-11-04T05:43:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/just-in-liverpool-star-fought-to-the-last-moment-to-join-real-madrid-in-summer\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T05:43:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T10:43:29","slug":"just-in-liverpool-star-fought-to-the-last-moment-to-join-real-madrid-in-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/just-in-liverpool-star-fought-to-the-last-moment-to-join-real-madrid-in-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Just In: Liverpool star &#8216;fought to the last moment&#8217; to join Real Madrid in summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/just-in-liverpool-star-fought-to-the-last-moment-to-join-real-madrid-in-summer\/#Van_Dijk_asked_to_join_Real_Madrid\" >Van Dijk asked to join Real Madrid<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/04\/just-in-liverpool-star-fought-to-the-last-moment-to-join-real-madrid-in-summer\/#Liverpool_captain_finally_signs_new_contract\" >Liverpool captain finally signs new contract<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Surprisingly, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk reportedly decided to join Real Madrid last summer and ended up renewing his contract at Anfield, Diario AS reports.<br \/><\/strong><br \/>The story resurfaced on the same day that the two European giants meet in the UEFA Champions League, adding further intrigue to an already heated match.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish newspaper claims Van Dijk and his agent &#8220;fought to the last moment&#8221; to secure a move to the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Van_Dijk_asked_to_join_Real_Madrid\"><\/span>Van Dijk asked to join Real Madrid<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The player&#8217;s representatives are said to have made direct contact with Real Madrid executives and contacted a Spanish intermediary to explore the possibility of a transfer.<\/p>\n<p>However, this approach received a lukewarm response from the Madrid side, who abandoned the move to sign the Dutch defender and instead focused on younger replacements.<\/p>\n<p>At that point, Van Dijk had not yet committed to a contract extension. The uncertainty has reportedly fueled speculation that the Dutchman might seek a new challenge overseas after his dominant spell with Liverpool in England.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, Real Madrid chose to go in a different direction, investing in youngsters by signing Dean Heusen and maintaining faith in Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Liverpool_captain_finally_signs_new_contract\"><\/span>Liverpool captain finally signs new contract<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/gettyimages-2243293431-612x612-1-414x294.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/gettyimages-2243293431-612x612-1.jpg.webp 612w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 770px, (min-width:1020px) 630px, (min-width:900px) 880px, (min-width:680px) 97vw, (min-width:414px) 414px, 100vw\"><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Liverpool&#8217;s Virgil van Dijk (Photo credit: Catherine Ivill \u2013 AMA\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Van Dijk reaffirmed his loyalty to Liverpool by signing a contract extension in the summer, extending his stay at the Merseyside club.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the Dutch international has continued to lead Liverpool on and off the pitch.<br \/>The timing of the report has reignited debate about what was going on, as Real Madrid visit Anfield for a crucial Champions League clash.<\/p>\n<p>While Madrid have steered in a different direction, Van Dijk&#8217;s lasting influence at Liverpool suggests that, so far, both clubs have few regrets about the turn of events.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Liverpool suffer major setback ahead of Champions League match against Real Madrid<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Surprisingly, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk reportedly decided to join Real Madrid last summer and ended up renewing his contract at Anfield, Diario AS reports.The story resurfaced on the same day that the two European giants meet in the UEFA Champions League, adding further intrigue to an already heated match. The Spanish newspaper claims Van [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-26112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}