Klopp urges caution on Van Dijk recovery as Euro 2020 looms

By: The Associated Press Posted: 4:34 PM CDT Saturday, May. 1, 2021 Last Modified: 4:35 PM CDT Saturday, May. 1, 2021

Advertise with us

LIVERPOOL, England - Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp dampened hopes of Virgil van Dijk playing for the Netherlands at the European Championship, saying it will be “very, very tight” whether the defender can be fit in time.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/05/2021 (1953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LIVERPOOL, England – Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp dampened hopes of Virgil van Dijk playing for the Netherlands at the European Championship, saying it will be “very, very tight” whether the defender can be fit in time.

The Dutch centre back posted a video of himself doing some light jogging, prompting questions of Klopp about Van Dijk’s potential readiness for Euro 2020 which kicks off on June 11 in Rome.

“If you want to play a tournament, you have to train before, proper football training, weeks before — not a week before,” Klopp said.

FILE - In this file photo dated Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020, Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk watches from the stands during the English Premier League soccer match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on Saturday May 1, 2021, dampened hopes of Virgil van Dijk playing for the Netherlands at the European Championship, saying it will be “very, very tight” whether the defender can be fit in time because he’s not close to resuming full training. (Clive Brunskill/Pool FILE via AP)

Van Dijk has been rehabilitating his surgically repaired right knee since late October. His anterior cruciate ligament was damaged in a reckless challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in an English Premier League game on Oct. 17.

Van Dijk does straight-line jogging in the video posted on Thursday on his social media accounts.

Klopp, speaking ahead of Liverpool’s game at Manchester United on Sunday, said only Van Dijk can ultimately answer the question of whether he’ll be ready in six weeks.

“He just tries to get fit as quick as possible,” Klopp said. “In the moment, nobody knows when that will be exactly, but you can imagine it will be, for sure, very, very tight with the Euros and the team training and stuff like this because he’s 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.”

Klopp pledged not to stand in Van Dijk’s way.

“Nobody holds him back, I can promise all the people in Holland or wherever, but we cannot force it as well, and we will not. We speak about a player and his career. Nobody should force that, and nobody will — not Holland, not us, and Virgil as well.”

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports