Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has warned Holland coach Frank de Boer that Virgil van Dijk will not risk his career to play at the European Championship.
Klopp claims Van Dijk is running out of time to return to fitness for the delayed tournament, after being sidelined for almost seven months with a cruciate injury. He is back on the training ground, but unlikely to play for the Reds again this season.
Klopp said: “I don't want to hold Virgil back but you can't force it as well. You are all long enough in the business to know that if you want to play you have to train before – and proper football training.
“It takes weeks. Not a week before. You cannot be 10 or 11 months out, train for one week and then play football.
“That is not possible. It should not be possible.
“No one is holding Virgil back – I can promise all the people in Holland that we cannot force it, and we will not.
“We speak about a player and his career, so nobody should force it and nobody will.
“Not Holland, not us and not Virgil as well. It's just about getting as fit as possible.
“Nobody knows at the moment when that will be exactly, but you can imagine for sure it will be very, very tight with the Euros because he is not in team training yet and will not be in the next weeks.
“So I don't know. But in the end it's a decision of Virgil and he will get massively influenced by the feeling in his knee."
