Virgil van Dijk injury worries are the latest headache for Liverpool, after the Reds captain pulled out of the Netherlands squad for this month’s Nations League fixtures with a minor knock. The 35-year-old played the full 90 minutes of Sunday’s 3-1 win at Crystal Palace, but the Dutch FA confirmed on Monday that he “did not return fit” from the weekend’s matches and will sit out the meetings with Greece and Germany.
Van Dijk has been managing the problem for weeks, and the two-week international break now gives Liverpool’s medical staff a window to get their captain right before the Premier League resumes with a home clash against Manchester United on 22 November. For more on the fixtures ahead, check today’s predictions.
Virgil van Dijk injury: what the Dutch FA said
The Dutch FA announced on Monday that Van Dijk and Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey would both miss the upcoming internationals, with no replacements called up. “Virgil van Dijk and Brian Brobbey have been dropped from the Dutch national team’s upcoming international matches,” the statement read. “Both players did not return fit from the past weekend’s matches and are therefore unavailable. The squad thus currently consists of 23 players.”
Van Dijk himself admitted after the Palace win that the problem has been building for some time. “Physically I’ve been struggling with a little niggle the last couple of weeks,” he said. “But I do everything in my power to be out there.” The withdrawal comes shortly after the defender reached 100 caps for the Netherlands, and he has started 14 of Liverpool’s 15 matches in all competitions this season, underlining just how much Andoni Iraola relies on him.
Liverpool confirmed the news on the club’s official channels, and reports in England say the decision was taken to avoid aggravating the problem rather than because of any serious damage. Neither Liverpool nor the Dutch FA has named a specific injury, and no return date has been given — but the hope at Anfield is that a fortnight without extra minutes is exactly what Van Dijk needs.
Gravenberch and Frimpong also ruled out
Van Dijk is not the only Liverpool player to drop out of the Netherlands squad. Ryan Gravenberch has been omitted after being ruled out by a heel complaint, while Jeremie Frimpong is also missing after a muscle problem in recent weeks. Both will now stay on Merseyside for treatment, with Iraola hoping the pair can be available to face United.
The Dutch trio join a growing list of walking wounded at the AXA Training Centre. Dominik Szoboszlai’s knee injury, picked up in the same Palace victory, has already left Liverpool short in midfield, and the Reds are counting the cost of a punishing run of fixtures. Alisson Becker was once more left out of the Brazil squad by Carlo Ancelotti as the Italian looks at the next generation, while Wataru Endo has stepped away from international football and Federico Chiesa has been omitted from Italy’s squad by Roberto Mancini, having played only two minutes for Liverpool this season after recovering from a back injury.
Fifteen Reds stay behind as Iraola counts down to Man Utd
With 15 senior players away representing their countries, up to 15 Liverpool players are not on international duty and will spend the break training at the AXA Training Centre. Among them are the long-term absentees Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Hugo Ekitike and Vitezslav Jaros, who will continue their recovery work throughout the window.
There is some encouragement for Iraola, though. Leoni was initially scheduled to return during the previous break before his comeback was pushed back, and the Liverpool manager has previously indicated that both Leoni and Bradley may rejoin group training after the November international break. Frimpong is also awaiting clearance from the club’s medical staff to resume, and the break could give the likes of Chiesa, Endo and Jayden Danns a chance to regain sharpness and impress their head coach.
The timing could hardly be bigger. Liverpool return to action against United at Anfield on 22 November, by which stage the visitors will almost certainly have appointed a new manager — Michael Carrick was sacked on Thursday, with Mauricio Pochettino set to take over. Liverpool go into the break on the back of their 3-1 win at Crystal Palace, which ended back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Fenerbahce, and with the Virgil van Dijk injury still being assessed daily, Iraola will be desperate to have his captain leading the side out for the biggest game of the month.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC0, Timmy96) — collage by SportsBuddy.
