Virgil van Dijk’s injury concerns have been confirmed after the Liverpool captain was absent from the team’s full training session.

Holland manager Ronald Koeman has provided more details about Virgil van Dijk’s return to Liverpool on Monday, explaining that the defender had been dealing with several minor fitness issues. Despite playing in Holland’s 4-0 win over Hungary in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday, Van Dijk left the Dutch squad early, with the final match against Bosnia and Herzegovina being a meaningless fixture after the team secured second place in the group.

Koeman confirmed that Van Dijk had been struggling with these issues for some time, having trained separately last week until Wednesday. Given the demanding schedule and Van Dijk’s tendency to play every match, Koeman decided it was best for him to return to Liverpool for further assessment ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game against Southampton.

This marks the second consecutive international break that Van Dijk has returned early to Liverpool, following his absence in last month’s defeat to Germany after a red card in Hungary. Koeman also commented on the penalty situation in the Hungary match, clarifying that Wout Weghorst, as the designated penalty taker, should have taken both spot-kicks, a point the manager said they’ve now discussed to avoid a similar issue in the futu

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