Liverpool transfer target Virgil van Dijk told to respect contract at Southampton

The defender has been repeatedly linked with a move to Liverpool this summer

Van Dijk is desperate to force through a move this summer (Getty)

Virgil van Dijk has been told to “respect” his Southampton contract by Nigel Adkins, amid speculation that he could force through a Liverpool move this summer.

Liverpool's hopes of signing the defender were boosted this week by the news that Southampton have left their wantaway skipper out of their squad for the pre-season trip to France.

Van Dijk has told Southampton he wants to leave and there is now a belief on many sides that Liverpool is where the centre-half wants to go.

But the Merseyside club are understandably treading carefully and not looking to push the situation, having previously been forced to apologise to Southampton over a complaint about illegal approaches.

And former Southampton manager Adkins thinks that Van Dijk should respect his contract in the meantime.

“A player and a player's representatives are always going to push to get the best deal they can,” Adkins told Sky Sports.

“He needs to be respectful of Southampton - he needs to be training and training well for them. If something does materialise, then that's just business, that's football, that's life. He's got to deal with that.

"We've got a situation in football where it's too easy for a player to say 'I am unhappy'… well the player was not unhappy when he signed a contract not so long ago.

“He has to be respectful of that contract as well and if business gets done, get it done privately and done behind the scenes. If Van Dijk does go, Southampton will get the asking price, which seems very expensive at this point in time.”

Southampton would demand upward of £65m for the player, although new manager Mauricio Pellegrino is still publicly hopeful of convincing him to stay.