Liverpool have publicly ended their interest in Virgil van Dijk and apologised to Southampton after being forced into a humiliating climbdown over their £60 million pursuit of the defender.

Liverpool issued a statement after talks between the clubs yesterday that followed Southampton’s decision to write to the Premier League alleging that Van Dijk had been tapped up.

It emerged on Monday that the player favoured a move to Liverpool this summer, despite interest from Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City, and that they were willing to pay him between £180,000 and £200,000 a week. Yet Southampton were angry over claims that the player was won over by a meeting with Jürgen Klopp in Blackpool.

That would have contravened Premier League rules, which state that no club