It is no secret that Jurgen Klopp has been wanting to sign Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk for a rather long time. And now it looks as if the Liverpool boss has moved one step closer towards signing the Dutch International.
Van Dijk has made it clear to Southampton that he wants to leave the club in the summer. As a result of which the 26-year-old defender has been training alone at Southampton.
While talking to the press, Saints manager Mauricio Pellegrino said that “My relationship with Virgil is excellent. I was clear with the boy, and I was talking from the first day with him. The club was clear. The club told me they will not sell Virgil.”
“Now he is not involved with the team because psychologically he is not 100 per cent. If you are not 100 per cent with the team I need to work with the players who are 100 per cent to defend Southampton. It’s easy for me. The boy said that he is not available to play because he wants to leave. This is the decision.”
It’s easy for me. The boy said that he is not available to play because he wants to leave. This is the decision.”
The centre-back clearly wants to play for a new club in the next season and he has made this feeling of his pretty clear to his Southampton manager by making himself unavailable for matches. While the Saints have been rigid on the fact that they will not sell Van Dijk but with the Dutch International wanting to leave it looks as if Southampton will be totally helpless.
Liverpool had gone after Van Dijk just after the previous season had ended. But they had to pull out of the deal after Southampton cried foul. The Reds had to release an official statement stating that they had withdrawn all interests from the player. But now with Van Dijk desperately wanting to move out Liverpool’s hope have once again been rekindled.
