Southampton force Van Dijk to train alone

VIRGIL VAN DIJK has been made to train on his own after rocking Southampton by making clear his intentions to leave this summer.

The Holland international has his heart set on a move to Liverpool but the Anfield club were forced to withdraw their interest in Van Dijk last month after Southampton reported them to the Premier League over allegations of tapping up.

Van Dijk (right) had returned to training with Southampton and had been going about his business without fuss but that has now changed after he told Mauricio Pellegrino, the club’s new manager, he was not ‘making himself available for selection.’

Southampton are heading to France next week to continue their preparations for the forthcoming season but Van Dijk will remain at their Staplewoods base to work alone; he will be excluded from the first team squad until he has proven to Pellegrino that he is the right frame of mind to continue.

Pellegrino said: The boy said that he is not available to play because he wants to leave. This is the decision. I had to say “if you don’t want to be involved because you don’t feel OK, then you have to train alone until this period of time happens.”

‘My relationship with Virgil is excellent. I was clear with the boy, and I was talking from the first day with him. I translated the idea of the club to the player and for me it was easy because I had to manage the dynamic of the team.’ Throughout this saga, Southampton have been adamant that Van Dijk will not be sold during this window and their hard-line stance will not suddenly crumble regardless of what he has said to Pellegrino about what he wants. It is understood Southampton are relaxed about the situation and are not flustered about his attitude during the transfer window; he will be reminded, however, that come September 1, he will be expected to be nothing other than professional and committed. ‘I hope that Virgil can review his feelings,’ said Pellegrino. ‘You know that today a player is big business. Not just the player but behind them is a lot of interest.’ It remains to be seen, though, whether this is the end of the matter. Liverpool have backed away since they were forced to make a public apology to Southampton but nothing has changed in terms of Jurgen Klopp being a huge admirer of Van Dijk and the 26-year-old wanting to move to Anfield. Liverpool were prepared to shatter their transfer record — and pay up to £60million — to sign Van Dijk, who could expect to command a wage of more than £180,000 per week at a Champions League club. Van Dijk has a contract that runs to 2022 at St Mary’s and Southampton will not consider selling to anyone — he has also been courted by Chelsea and Manchester City — for less than £70million.

Meanwhile, the founder of the Chinese firm leading the bidding to take over Southampton claims owner Katharina Liebherr is now considering not selling the club. Several investors have shown interest in buying a majority stake in the south coast club but Lander Sports Development have been in negotiations about a £200million deal for 80 per cent since the start of the year. Talks between the two parties have already hit snags in recent months but the potential sale was thrown into further doubt yesterday when Lander owner Gao Jisheng revealed that Liebherr was unsure whether she still wished to relinquish control of the club her father, Markus, rescued from bankruptcy in 2009.

‘It is not clear at the moment, the seller is having second thoughts about selling the club,’ Gao said at an event in Beijing. A spokesman for Lander later denied that Gao had made the comments and Southampton were unavailable for comment on Friday.

Liebherr’s previous view is that Southampton need new investment to take the club to the next level, after finishing in the top eight for the past four seasons.

Lander’s potential purchase has already been subject to scrutiny from the Premier League, who were concerned that Gao had previously admitted to bribing Chinese officials more than a decade ago, and was given immunity from prosecution for his testimony.

Liebherr resigned from Southampton’s board earlier this month, leaving footballing decisions to chairman Ralph Krueger, vice chairman of football Les Reed and vice chairman of business Martin Semmens.