UK Edition
Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino warns Virgil van Dijk they will not yield to Liverpool offer
Mauricio Pellegrino will attempt to personally broker a compromise between the Southampton board and Virgil van Dijk by telling the club captain that the stance over refusing a sale to Liverpool has not softened.
Van Dijk and the directors remain locked in a damaging stand-off that has left their star player having taken no part in any pre-season matches, or indeed full training, this summer. He now appears almost certain to miss the first Premier League game against Swansea City next Saturday.
Southampton had hoped that they could begin the process of reintegrating Van Dijk into first-team training after the club returned from a camp in France but, according to Pellegrino, the Dutchman does not want to play.
Van Dijk signed a contract last year that does not expire until 2023 but is keen to leave, with Southampton having already asked the Premier League to investigate Liverpool over suspicions of a direct approach.
“We continue in the same way,” said Pellegrino, when asked if the club would change its stance. "The situation is the boy is aside of the team because he doesn’t want to play for us.”
Pellegrino was asked what he could do to change Van Dijk’s mind. “I would like to persuade him that he’s important for us and the club will not sell him,” he said.
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