While it was made perfectly clear that Virgil Van Dijk wanted to leave Park Head in search of a new challenge, despite the club's intentions to obtain his signature on a long-term contract, Celtic and chief executive Peter Lawwell still managed to hold out for their full evaluation of the player and broke a Scottish league record in the process.
After weeks of speculation, Southampton finally submitted a formal offer for Van Dijk to the sum of £11.5m, but rather than worry about the possibility to scaring off the Premier League side and forcing an unhappy player to stay at the club, Celtic responded with a counter-offer of £13m.
Southampton didn't have the best of starts to the Premier League season defensively as they conceded five goals in their first two games and Ronald Koeman made clear his desire to see his compatriot join up with his squad, so with the deadline day pressure mounting the club agreed to pay the fee and create a new Scottish league record for the highest fee for a player received.
The previous record was also held by Celtic as they sent Victor Wanyama to Southampton in 2013 for £11.5m, and last summer Fraser Forster followed the path from Park Head to Saint Mary's for a handsome £10m, meaning that while Southampton are being praised for their ability to command high fees in the transfer market with sales to other English clubs, a sizeable chunk of that cash is being funneled into Celtic every year.
It will be interesting to see if that trend continues. That Nir Bitton fella has been playing quite well..
