Mauricio Pellegrino has vowed to keep Virgil van Dijk at Southampton, despite revealing that the player has made clear that he wants to leave.
The Netherlands international was close to joining Liverpool in a £60m deal earlier this summer, only for the Reds to pull out at the last minute after being accused of illegally approaching him.
Liverpool stated at the time that they would no longer pursue their interest, but reports have since emerged claiming that the 26-year-old is to push through a move to Anfield in the remaining weeks of the transfer window.
Pellegrino does not believe that Van Dijk is in the right frame of mind to train with the rest of his Southampton teammates, meaning that he will miss next week's trip to France to face Saint-Etienne in a pre-season friendly, though the new boss is hopeful that the centre-back will reverse his stance.
"My relationship with Virgil is excellent," he told The Telegraph. "I was clear with the boy, and I was talking from the first day with him. The club was clear. The club told me they will not sell Virgil. I communicate the idea of the club to the players and for me it was easy [to leave Van Dijk out of training] because I had to manage the dynamic of the team.
"Now he is not involved with the team because psychologically he is not 100 per cent. If you are not 100 per cent with the team I need to work with the players who are 100 per cent to defend Southampton. It's easy for me. I hope that Virgil can review his feelings because you know that today a player is big business.
"Not just the player but behind them is a lot of interests. I don't want to say too much but we need the player, 100 per cent. I want to help the squad, I want to help Virgil, but we need a player, and I repeat, involved in every training session, not just with the body but with the mind on the pitch with the rest of the players."
Van Dijk, also linked to Arsenal and Manchester City this summer, made 30 appearances for the Saints last season in all competitions.
Daniel Lewis
