Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
YOURS , FOR £70M
Saints admit Van Dijk could be sold in January on day Klopp returns from sick bed
JURGEN KLOPP has been given the green light to make a new January bid for Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool were forced to apologise to the Saints after their failed attempt to sign the £70million star in the summer. And Anfield boss Klopp will get a close-up view of the player he still believes can help solve his defensive problems as he will be in the dugout against Southampton tomorrow after recovering from a health scare.
Saints manager Mauricio Pellegrino admitted yesterday
he could not guarantee that Holland defender Van Dijk would still be at the club by the end of January.
He said: “I don’t know, I can’t control the market.
“You never know as when we talk about money, everybody has got a price.
“The budget is to sign players and the biggest teams have got money to try to sign players. I can’t decide about that. This is a question for our owners.
“We have got a lot of good players and most teams want to sign them.”
Liverpool had to apologise to Southampton for making an illegal approach when they tried to sign Van Dijk in a longrunning transfer saga that saw the player request a move before being banished from the first team.
Klopp took training at Melwood yesterday afternoon following his admission to hospital for tests on Wednesday when he complained of feeling ill.