Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has said that it is ‘impossible’ for his team to sign Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk in the upcoming transfer window.

The Saints defender has been heavily linked with a move away from the St Mary’s with Liverpool and Manchester City highly interested in securing his services. City were even reportedly willing to shell out £50 million for the Dutchman and the defender added fuel to the speculation after wearing a Manchester City jersey on the Christmas eve. However, Pep Guardiola, it seems, is not keen to sign the player who has expressed his desire of playing for a big team.

“Will Van Dijk come here? Next month here?” he asked, before laughing. “We are going to Southampton to play against them [in April]. He is not going to come here next month – because it is impossible.

“He is a Southampton player and we don’t want him now. We are going to go to Southampton to play them, that’s for sure.”

When asked about whether he is eyeing a new centre-back in January, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach said:“If you ask me today, no “but maybe next week if we decide to change and we realise maybe we need something special maybe in one position, one more player in that position because we don’t have too much, especially in the full backs. But [as for] the other positions, we are quite happy.”

This clearly paves the way for the Reds to make their move for the Southampton ace. Jurgen Klopp has been desperate to sign a quality centre-back to put an end to his team’s defensive woes and van Dijk has emerged as a prime target for the former Borussia Dortmund manager.