Southampton won’t be selling Virgil van Dijk during the summer.
According to a report on Sky Sports the Dutch defender will be at St Mary’s at the start of next season despite intense speculation that he will be elsewhere.
Arsenal have recently been linked with a move for van Dijk with Chelsea and Manchester City making noises about the defender before the January transfer window.
Southampton sold Jose Fonte to West Ham for £8m during the January transfer window and were adamant that van Dijk wouldn’t be following him out the door.
After Manchester City paid £50m for John Stones last summer it was expected that van Dijk would fetch a world record fee for a defender but speaking on Monday afternoon Saints manager Claude Puel insisted that Southampton wouldn’t be selling their captain.
That message is likely to be tested once the transfer window opens with most of the big clubs in the market to strengthen their central defence.