Liverpool round-up: Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk tops targets; transfer battle for Christian Pulisic; West Brom reaction

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With one eye already being cast over potential summer transfer activity for Liverpool, the Times claim that Southampton defender Virgil Van Dijk the top target for the Reds with the Dutchman potentially the latest player to make the journey from the south coast club to Merseyside, following in the footsteps of the likes of Sadio Mane, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren.

The former Celtic centre-back has developed a reputation as one of the strongest in his position in the Premier League before picking up a season-ending injury earlier this year but continues to attract interest with a £50 million price tag required if Jurgen Klopp does want to bring him to Anfield to shore up his leaky defence.

Further forward, the Mirror believe that Liverpool are also preparing to do battle with German giants Bayern Munich in their pursuit of American teenager Christian Pulisic after the exciting winger made his breakthrough at Borussia Dortmund.

The Champions League outfit do not want to sell the pacey forward, but both interested clubs believe that their resolve may be tested if bids in the region of £30 million are made for the 18-year-old this summer.

For now, Klopp must settle for his current squad and he was pleased to see them overcome a tough challenge in the form of Tony Pulis’ West Brom on Sunday as the manager told the club website:

“In the first half, we didn’t play too good [in terms of] football and in the second half we did much better, but we kept the ball in the first half and didn’t let them be really part of the game. We thought that made no sense.

“In the second half, we did this much better after the goal. For us, it was very, very important because showing this concentration level until the end didn’t work each week in the last few months – but today, it was really good and I am happy about this.”

The 1-0 victory came courtesy of a Roberto Firmino header just before the break after a nice flick on from Lucas Leiva set up his compatriot to break the deadlock.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Serg Hoholok.