Virgil van Dijk has reportedly told Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino that he wants to leave.
According to a report from the Daily Echo, Southampton are optimistic that Virgil van Dijk will soon forget about the prospect of trying to leave St Mary’s this summer and will return to the first-team fold.
It has, once again, been a turbulent summer for the Saints, with the Echo reporting that van Dijk has been training alone at the club’s training ground while the rest of the side have been away on a pre-season tour after he told Mauricio Pellegrino that he wanted to leave for Liverpool.
However, the Echo adds that the Reds have made little progress in their attempts to land the Netherlands international, and thus, Southampton are hoping that the centre-back will put the idea of leaving on the back-burner and will instead soon be back concentrating on an upcoming season on the south coast.
The Echo reports that Pellegrino will hold talks with the former Celtic man once he returns following their trip to France and if he is ready to forget about an Anfield switch, he will be integrated back into the squad – though he is likely to be left out of the season-opener with Swansea City, with Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida expected to play due to van Dijk’s long-term injury from last season.
It would certainly be a major statement from the Saints if they managed to keep the 26-year-old this summer – though some may have their concerns for when future windows open – as their supporters have had to get used to some of their better players being replaced on a fairly regular basis over the years.
If they can keep players like van Dijk and perhaps add some additional quality to the squad, then that must surely give them their best chance of realising their ambitions and subsequently holding onto those key men.
But given how previous windows have gone and how events appear to have played out this summer, it would not be that surprising if Saints fans were not getting carried away until the window closed.
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