Exclusive: Southampton have NOT re-opened talks with Liverpool over Virgil van Dijk

Southampton have not opened talks with Liverpool over the sale of defender Virgil van Dijk, despite fresh reports in the Uk media that the two clubs were trying to finalise a fee for the Dutch centre-back.

Sources close to Southampton have told Yahoo Sport UK that Van Dijk has not been the subject of renewed interest from Liverpool since the Anfield club issued a full apology to their Premier League rivals for a series of illegal approaches for Van Dijk.

We understand that contact extended to Van Dijk staging one-on-one talks with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and holding detailed discussions over tactical planning for next season, with the 26-year-old defender then appearing to decide he wanted to make the move to Anfield.

Irate Southampton officials lodged a complaint with the Football Association over the approaches Liverpool had made for Van Dijk, with Anfield chiefs offering a somewhat embarrassing apology as they were threatened with a punishment for their actions.

Liverpool assured Southampton that they would not return with a fresh attempt to sign Van Dijk this summer as part of the apology and despite claims in UK newspapers that contact between the two clubs over a deal for the player have continued in recent days.

We understand that new Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino is making his plans for the new season with Van Dijk very much in his plans, with the defender who signed a new six-year contract with Saints last summer expected to refocus his thoughts on his current employers from this point forward.

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Southampton executive director Les Reed has made it clear that his club have no intentions of selling their star names this summer, with these comments confirming they are under no pressure to sell players they consider to be integral first team performers.

“None of those players are for sale. I can’t make it any plainer than that and that’s the way we mean to go forward,” Reed said in an interview with Sky Sports last month.

“We built this squad over some time and think we have a strong squad. We will fine-tune it but, other than that, we are looking forward to a very competitive season next year and we plan to go forward on that basis.

“There may be players that go on the basis it is the right thing for them and the club at that given time but we don’t expect that to be wholesale and this is simply doing sound business in the transfer window.”

Van Dijk has been working on his fitness at Southampton’s Staplewood training base in recent weeks, as he looks to recover full fitness after missing the second half of last season with an serious foot injury and there is an expectation that he will be fully for their first Premier League game of the season against Swansea on August 12th.