Virgil van Dijk still wants to leave Southampton but insists he has 'no regrets' over summer transfer saga
- Virgil van Dijk returned to the Southampton team at the weekend
- He admits he still wants to leave following a summer transfer saga
- Van Dijk spent the summer training alone amid serious Liverpool interest
- But he insists he has no regrets over how things went over the summer
Virgil van Dijk is refusing to give up on leaving Southampton and will look for a move in January after revealing he has ‘no regrets’ over his summer transfer saga.
Liverpool led a summer-long £60million chase of the Dutch centre back with Chelsea and Manchester City also showing interest, but Southampton held firm to keep him.
Van Dijk returned from exile to start in the Premier League for the first time since January on Saturday — but his thoughts are already back on moving away.
Virgil van Dijk still wants to leave Southampton despite returning to the team at the weekend
The Dutchman returned to the Saints side having trained alone during the summer
Speaking after joining up with Holland for international duty, Van Dijk told FOX Sports: 'I have no regrets.
‘Of course, I wanted to go one step up, but eventually Southampton did not want to let me go, but you’re a professional, so now I’ll give everything to the club.
'Halfway through the season, maybe we can see what’s possible.’
Liverpool chose not to sign another centre back after their interest in Van Dijk was rebuffed and have opened the season with a leaky defence under Jurgen Klopp.
He insists he has no regrets following a summer of links to Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City
Only Crystal Palace and West Ham have conceded more goals than the Reds’ 12 in the Premier League and Klopp would be keen to revive his interest in Van Dijk should his key summer target become available.
At Stoke City on Saturday, the 26-year-old played the full 90 minutes as goals from Mame Biram Diouf and Peter Crouch put Southampton to the sword.
Manager Mauricio Pellegrino said afterwards: ‘I think he was ok. It is not easy to come back after a long long way, a long period of time, and I think he was correct, focused, and the timing in some action was good.’
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