Van Dijk to skip Euros to focus on knee rehab

The Dutchman has not played a competitive game since suffering a knee injury in the Merseyside derby against Everton last year.

The defender felt it was the right decision on his part to skip the continental championships and focus on his recovery.

Liverpool and Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk said he has made the difficult decision to skip next month's European Championship in a bid to fully recover from his season-ending knee injury.

Van Dijk, who was injured in the Premier League Merseyside derby against Everton in October, has been sidelined ever since after undergoing surgery and the 29-year-old said he was "gutted" to miss out on the Euros.

"With everything that is going on, I feel physically it is the right decision that I've decided not to go to the Euros and to go into my last phase of rehab during the off-season," the Dutch defender told the Liverpool website.

Obviously I am very gutted to miss the Euros, to miss the European Championship and leading out my own country there, but things have been like they have and I have to accept it."

Netherlands is in Group C along with Ukraine, Austria, North Macedonia, and is scheduled to play their three group games in Amsterdam.