Jurgen Klopp has been given the green light to make a new bid for Southampton star Virgil van Dijk .

Liverpool were forced to make an apology to Saints after their failed attempt to sign the £70million-rated Dutch centre-back in the summer.

But 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 dug-out for the home game against Southampton on Saturday after recovering from his midweek health scare.

Saints' first-year boss Mauricio Pellegrino admitted on Thursday he could not guarantee Van Dijk will still be at the club when the January transfer window closes.

Liverpool owner reacts to fan's plea to sign Virgil van Dijk in January

He said: “I don’t know. I can’t control the market.

“You never know, because 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.

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(Image: Getty)

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“I can’t decide about that. This is a question for our owners.

“Everybody is focused on their area, to try to bring the best players possible for their club. It is something that happens every single transfer window.

“We have got a lot of good players and most of the teams want to sign them.”

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Liverpool had to apologise over the summer for making what was deemed an illegal approach when they tried to sign Van Dijk in a long-running transfer saga that saw the Netherlands international request a move and then be banished from first-team training.

Klopp took charge of training at Melwood on Thursday afternoon following the previous day's trip to hospital for tests after he complained of feeling ill.