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Van Dijk and Brobbey out of Netherlands squad over fitness

Virgil van Dijk and Brian Brobbey are out of the Netherlands squad for the Nations League games against Greece and Germany over fitness.

Sola Amusan2 min read

Liverpool captain Van Dijk, who has exactly 100 caps, misses the Greece and Germany games, and Xavi has 23 players left with no replacements.

The Netherlands will be without two players for their Nations League games against Greece and Germany. The Dutch national team announced on Monday that Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey "aren't fit enough to feature in the upcoming Nations League matches". No replacements have been called up for the pair.

"Both players did not return fit from the past weekend," the statement added.

Van Dijk now has exactly 100 caps for the Netherlands. Liverpool said he would not take part in the games "due to a fitness issue", but did not say what the problem was. He was on the pitch for all 90 minutes of Liverpool's 3-1 victory over Palace on Sunday, and was due to head directly from Selhurst Park to link up with the Dutch squad.

Brobbey's knock came in Sunderland's 1-0 win over Chelsea, also on Sunday. He was forced off with a muscle issue, and Wilson Isidor came on for him after 67 minutes. The forward has 17 Netherlands appearances and also struggled with injury during the previous international break. Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris had earlier said he would rather Brobbey had not been picked because of his physical condition.

Netherlands head coach Xavi now has 23 players in his squad. Depay and Weghorst were not called up on Friday and will not have to report to the camp after all.

On Monday, Xavi said the staff keep in close contact with players dealing with injuries, and he gave his view on Brobbey:

"But Brobbey feels good. We'll see how he feels when he reports here."

The Netherlands play Greece in Amsterdam on Friday, 13 November, and travel to Berlin to face Germany on Monday.

Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola had discussed the break with some trepidation, after injuries to Alexander Isak, Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo during October's Nations League fixtures. After the Crystal Palace game, Iraola said: "The last thing we need now is to lose players in the international games."

Dominik Szoboszlai is scheduled for knee tests after being substituted in the Crystal Palace match, and he could be absent from Hungary's fixtures versus Georgia and Northern Ireland during this window.

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