Soccer-Van Dijk looking good on return from knee injury: Klopp

(Reuters) - Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said centre back Virgil van Dijk had made good progress in training as the Dutch international prepares to return from a serious knee injury.

Van Dijk, 30, has been sidelined since undergoing surgery on a knee injury he picked up in the Premier League match against Everton in October.

Van Dijk, Joe Gomez (knee), Joel Matip (ankle) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (thigh) are all working on their fitness and took part in Liverpool's pre-season training in Salzburg, Austria.

"All four look really good, I have to say," Klopp told the club website https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/437805-klopp-s-update-on-van-dijk-gomez-matip-and-alexander-arnold-fitness.

"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.

"Joel looks good, absolutely, he is the closest probably to normal training... Trent was a serious enough injury but now not a major one, I would say. He is close but in the moment, probably the next five or six days he has a special programme."

Liverpool, who finished third last season, begin their new league campaign at promoted Norwich City on Aug. 14.

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)