London, July 25: Liverpool's number one defensive target Virgil van Dijk has been left out of the Southampton squad for their training camp in France. It is indeed a strong statement from the south coast club to leave out their captain for the pre-season.

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New Saints manager and former Reds defender Mauricio Pellegrino has not included the Dutchman in the 25-man squad for the trip to Evain-les-Bains.

Van Dijk travelled with Southampton for their previous training camp in Austria earlier this month, but has since been asked to train on his own after expressing his desire to leave to Pellegrino.

Liverpool are prepared to break their transfer record to sign the £60 million-rated van Dijk, who has been a long-time target of Jurgen Klopp.

However, following the embarrassment they had to face earlier when they had to apologise in public for trying to tap up the Dutchman, the Reds are extra cautious this time.

Reports claim that Liverpool are officially waiting for a green signal from Southampton before making an offer for the 26-year-old.

Southampton had made it clear earlier, that they will not entertain an offer for their best player amidst interest from fellow premier league clubs Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City but the situation has now taken an interesting turn with van Dijk going on strike.

Chelsea are also said to be monitoring the defender closely and are looking to pounce on any given chance, but it is claimed that van Dijk only wants Liverpool due to his admiration for Jurgen Klopp and the club.

Meanwhile, Liverpool remain to be linked with another key target, Naby Keita of RB Leipzig who was involved in a serious bust-up in training yesterday (July 24). So, there are two pieces of positive news for Liverpool but we have to wait and see if they capitalise on them.

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