What’s Hot and What’s Not from Southampton’s season so far

HOT – Virgil van Dijk’s performances

There have been some excellent performers for Southampton this term, Oriol Romeu and Charlie Austin to name a few, but none have been as impressive as centre-back Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutch international moved to St Mary’s back in 2015 but didn’t make a great start to life in English football, before slowly but surely finding his feet at the heart of the Saints defence, and forming quite the partnership with Jose Fonte, who left for West Ham last month.

Puel’s men had one of the best defensive records for much of the first half of the campaign, and van Dijk’s displays were a big reason for that, with the 25-year-old possessing everything a modern-day centre-half needs to succeed.

The other big plus for Southampton was keeping him during the January transfer window, as several clubs were linked with him such have been his brilliant displays, and it was even more important given Fonte’s departure.

Van Dijk is currently out injured and will miss the League Cup final, yet he is sure to return and perform in the same vein between now and May.