Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Bertrand and Dusan Tadic have all been linked with moves away from Southampton.
Ryan Bertrand is consistently on of Southampton’s best performers
It seems pretty certain that Southampton will sell at least one key player this summer – it’s just what they do.
Last summer three departed, the summer before that two and two years previous five left, plus club captain Jose Fonte was sold in January.
Clubs know that Southampton are open for business and with that in mind, here are the three stars most likely to be moving on from St Mary’s once the season is over.
Virgil van Dijk
Van Dijk is the Saints’ best player and with a host of top six clubs looking for a ball-playing centre-back who has proven himself in the Premier League, it’s hard to see him staying beyond the summer.
Chairman Ralph Krueger recently told talkSPORT that van Dijk is “committed” to the club and won’t leave, but Southampton fans have heard it all before and Krueger’s word has proved far from reliable.
Currently injured, Virgil van Dijk could have played his last game for Southampton
He’ll likely cost in excess of £40 million, but it will be a huge surprise if van Dijk is back in red and white stripes next season.
Ryan Bertrand
If van Dijk is the club’s best player, Bertrand is not far behind and again, with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool short of a good left-back, a move for him would make sense.
Bertrand was signed after Southampton sold homegrown star Luke Shaw three years ago
He signed a new five-year deal at the start of the season and as an England regular looks settled on the South Coast, but he won’t be short of suitors and it wouldn’t be out of character for the Saints to choose to cash in on a valuable asset.
Dusan Tadic
The one player on this list who looks as if he might be trying to generate a move, Tadic has recently complained about how frequently he’s substituted.
According to Tuttomercatoweb he has a release clause of £13 million which is tempting teams in Italy, Spain and England.
Having had an indifferent season at club level, Claude Puel may not be too concerned to see him leave and free up space to play Sofiane Boufal, who has underwhelmed so far, more often.
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