Liverpool round-up: 26-year-old demands Liverpool move; Real Madrid ace linked; Ings recovery latest

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In yet another twist in the tale, the Mirror claim that Virgil Van Dijk has instructed Southampton that he wants a move to Liverpool and will only move to Merseyside. That puts the Saints at risk of missing out on a huge amount of money if they can sell him for as much as £50 million.

The Dutch central defender turned 26 on Saturday and will want his future clarified sooner rather than later. Liverpool have already been forced to withdraw their interest once this summer, but given that they are yet to have been strongly linked with any other defensive targets, it would seem that Van Dijk remains their priority.

In more surprising news, Spanish newspaper Sport believe that the Reds could be in the race for Real Madrid’s attacking midfielder James Rodriguez. The club have reportedly joined the race for the Colombian alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Inter, Juventus and Manchester City, though none of those clubs have shown any sign of being prepared to pay the €75 million asking price.

It is hard to envisage quite how the Real Madrid number ten would fit into the Jurgen Klopp system at Anfield, particularly given the German’s public plans to play Philippe Coutinho in a central attacking role similar to that in which Rodriguez would thrive. It may be exciting for fans to be linked with players of such stature, but on this occasions it seems there may be little substance to the rumours.

In other news, the club website have provided an update on the fitness of striker Danny Ings, who re-joined his team mates for some training exercises on Saturday for the first time since October. The ex-Burnley striker has had horrific luck with injuries, suffering ligament injuries in both knees in consecutive seasons, but is hoping to be fit for the start of the season.

Ings gave up any summer holiday plans to continue his rehabilitation at Melwood and is still some way off joining in full training alongside the first team. However, the 24-year-old is slowly re-building his fitness after such a prolonged spell on the sidelines.

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