Liverpool Virgil van Dijk waiting for movement amid reports of 'imminent' Liverpool move Close 1/1 The future of Virgil van Dijk remains a hot topic at Southampton Gallery 1 The future of Virgil van Dijk remains a hot topic at Southampton

Southampton are NOT encouraging bids for their defender Virgil van Dijk, despite reports suggesting they are on the brink of selling the Dutchman to Liverpool.

Twitter went into meltdown on Tuesday amid reports that Van Dijk had boarded a plane to Merseyside to complete a medical ahead of a £70m move to Liverpool, but they proved to be false and the latest word suggests Southampton’s stance has not changed on Van Dijk’s future.

Independent.ie understand that Southampton remain relaxed about Van Dijk’s position, even though the player has handed in a transfer request and is currently not training with the club’s first team players.

While the player and his advisers remain eager to try and force through a move away from Southampton before Thursday’s transfer deadline, Southampton hold all the aces in this stand-off and they will make the final call on whether to cash in on a player who has made a series of moves to try and leave this summer.

Van Dijk will remain at Southampton unless the club decides to sell a player who staged unsolicited talks with Liverpool earlier this summer, prompting an apology from the Anfield club after Saints complained to the Football Association about their actions.

That apology also included a promise from Liverpool that they will not try to sign Van Dijk again unless they are given the green light by Southampton and they are still waiting for that to happen.

While it is clear that every player has a price and £70m has been mentioned as a figure Southampton may sell at, no formal offer had been received for Van Dijk up to the close of play on Tuesday night and therefore there has been no decision to make on his future.

It remains to be seen whether that position will change before Thursday’s transfer deadline.

Online Editors