English tabloid, The Sun, claim that Liverpool are yet again in pursuit of Southampton FC players, Sam McQueen and Virgil van Dijk. Reportedly with a combined value of £40 million, Klopp feels that the pair will add strength to Liverpool’s squad and title hopes.
Van Dijk moved from Scottish Premiership club, Celtic FC to Southampton in 2015 and quickly established himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League. The Netherlands international will not come cheap as he has a six-year contract with the club and will also be targeted by several other big clubs.
But Klopp has a way of convincing players with his ideologies and passion, similar to the way he managed to usher Sadio Mane to Liverpool in the summer. Another one of Southampton players Klopp seems to be interested in is Sam Mcqueen.
The 21-year-old left back is a Southampton academy product and will become a free agent at the end of the season as his contract expires. The youngster can be a solution for the left back position as James Milner is currently filling in for the shaky Alberto Moreno. The Spaniard lost his place to Milner after a string of defensive errors in crucial games for Liverpool over the last couple of months.
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Both Van Dijk and Mcqueen have been solid in defence for Southampton this season and even the manager of the club Claude Pue believes it will hard to keep the 25-year-old centre back at the club.
Puel said, “We will see for the future. For now, he is with us, and I am enjoying having this player with the squad and I hope for the future also. I enjoy it when all the players can improve like van Dijk because it's the philosophy of the club. We will see in the future if he can continue this work.”
Van Dijk put in a man of the match performance holding the Southampton wall against an aggressive Liverpool attack on Saturday’s 0-0 draw at St.Mary’s in the Premier League.
“Since the beginning of the season van Dijk is fantastic, and he now keeps good concentration. He has the quality and the capacity to defend one against one. It is important with our game because we try to have the ball.He can make very good progress and it is it important for the future,” added Puel.
Over the last couple of years, Liverpool have spent around £100m on signing players like Sadio Mane, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne and Rickie Lambert from Southampton.
