Van Dijk Left Behind as Southampton Head to France

After earlier being sent to train on his own, today Liverpool target Virgil van Dijk has been left behind in Southampton as his teammates all head to France for a pre-season training camp and a handful of preparatory games for the coming 2017-18 campaign.

This follows an earlier trip to Austria for Southampton, a trip Van Dijk was involved with. Since then, though, the player has been pushing for a move to Liverpool behind the scenes and has seen his relationship with management at the club deteriorate.

The situation is far from simple, though, with Liverpool remaining uncertain about whether or not they can go forward with a bid for the player without a clear invitation to do so from Southampton following their earlier apology for an improper approach to the player.

Such a signal wouldn’t necessarily have to be public, as Liverpool have reportedly worked to repair their relationship with the southern club since that incident, but it is clear that there will not be a move for the player now if Saints aren’t willing to deal.

That left them depending on the player pushing for the move, which appears to have happened over the past week and has culminated today with Van Dijk being left behind. Southampton are reportedly still hopeful of convincing him to stay for another season.

Liverpool, needless to say, are hoping that Southampton’s resolve on that front breaks shortly and the club decide they’d rather have a significant transfer fee to invest in new players than a player who clearly wants away from the club.