As the 2021-2022 pre-season is about to kick off in Austria, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has offered an update on his star center back Virgil van Dijk after his long absence away from the pitch with a knee injury which forced him to miss the majority of last season.

 “Let's start with all four look really good,” ( referring to Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, and Trent Alexander-Arnold as the other ones) Klopp said. “Now we are in constant talks with the medical department, the fitness department, the rehab department about what is right for them and do they have to do maybe a little bit less.

“Especially Virg and Joe will not have double sessions now for the first few days with the team. I don't know exactly when we can make the next steps but it will happen in the next four weeks, for sure- we will get a big step forward.”

Klopp will certainly ease van Dijk in the first few sessions of the training then integrate him on the lineup during the friendlies in Austria.

Virgil van Dijk was sidelined after a challenge by Everton Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the Merseyside derby last October which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The injury to the Dutchman absolutely hurt Liverpool's chances of defending the Premier League crown as they struggled mightily on the defensive end. van Dijk is the heart and soul of the Reds' backline, who have been crowned the champions of Europe on the 2018-2019 season and Premier League champions of the 2019-2020 season.

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The also defender decided to opt-out of the Euro 2020 competition as he chose to continue rehabilitating the injured knee.

This is good news to Liverpool fans as the 2019 Ballon d'Or runner-up is getting closer to his return.