Matt Le Tissier criticises Liverpool over Virgil van Dijk transfer saga claiming they 'used to be quite classy'

The Southampton great has joined several others ex-professionals in condemning Liverpool's conduct during the transfer saga

Liverpool confirmed on Wednesday that they had ended their interest in Virgil van Dijk (Getty)

Matt Le Tissier has criticised Liverpool following their failed pursuit of Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk, claiming the Merseyside club “used to be quite classy”.

Liverpool ended their interest in van Dijk and issued a formal apology on Wednesday after Southampton accused them of illegally approaching their player.

Despite interest from the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, Van Dijk was reported to have settled on moving to Anfield after holding private talks with manager Jürgen Klopp in Blackpool.

Southampton, however, had not been formally approached and subsequently threatened to report Liverpool to the Premier League, which led to Wednesday’s embarrassing climbdown.

Le Tissier, a Southampton great who made 540 appearances for the Saints during the 1980s and 1990s, admonished Liverpool for their conduct, joining several ex-professionals in criticising the club.

“Somebody forgot that the way to go about a transfer is to actually make a bid first,” he told Talksport.

“Where all these stories came from, they just jumped the gun a little bit early and maybe should have held fire until Liverpool had agreed a fee with Southampton then maybe they would have got the man. I remember the days when Liverpool used to be quite classy in transfer negotiations.

Le Tissier added: “There have been no bids for Virgil this summer, and until a bid has been accepted you shouldn’t be talking to the player.”

Several former Liverpool players were also critical of their former club’s conduct following the publication of the formal apology.

Dietmar Hamann tweeted: “Laughable, unprofessional and embarrassing, nothing you would have associated the club with in the past”.

Jamie Carragher, the Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender, called for the person responsible for leaking details of Van Dijk’s meeting with Klopp to apologise.

“Soton won't be bothered LFC spoke to player/agent before them as they & all clubs do it,” he added on Twitter. “But will be with LFC for feeding that fact to press”.