Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong have been forced to withdraw from the Netherlands squad “on medical grounds” ahead of Tuesday’s Nations League tie with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Van Dijk captained his country to a 4-0 thumping of Hungary on Saturday night to confirm the Netherlands’ spot in the quarter-finals of Nations League by finishing second to Germany in Group A3. De Jong also started in Amsterdam before making way for Teun Koopmeiners in the 68th minute.

Both pivotal players will be absent for the upcoming trip to Zenica, as the Dutch football association confirmed on Monday morning.

“For both Frenkie and Virgil it is better for them to leave the training camp at this moment,” manager Ronald Koeman explained. “That decision was taken on medical grounds, with of course the interest of the players coming first.”

The Netherlands’ clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina is effectively a dead rubber. All four teams in Group A3 will remain in their current positions regardless of the final round of results. While table-topping Germany will follow the Dutch into the competition’s freshly expanded knockout stages, Bosnia and Herzegovina have been consigned to relegation into League B.

Van Dijk sat out last month’s 1-0 loss to Germany after getting a red card in a 1-1 draw with Hungary three days earlier. The 33-year-old has been an ever-present for Liverpool this season while re-establishing himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League, if not the world.

Dutch publication De Telegraaf suggest that Van Dijk’s omission has been made in light of Liverpool’s stuffed fixture list over the festive period. The Reds, who are led by Dutch coach Arne Slot, have 11 games in 35 days before the end of the year.

De Jong’s absence is far more straightforward. The 27-year-old midfielder had not played for the Netherlands since September 2023 prior to Saturday’s victory over Hungary. The ankle injury which kept De Jong sidelined at Barcelona for six months was so severe that he feared an end to his career entirely.

While he has to take extra precautions over his ankle ahead of each match, De Jong has been fit and available for Barcelona in recent weeks. Skipping Tuesday’s effectively meaningless fixture will hopefully ensure that the midfielder maintains his full fitness.

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