Southampton manager Claude Puel says he expects Virgil van Dijk to start next season with the club as speculation continues over the Saints skipper’s future.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference before the south coast outfit’s Premier League clash against Arsenal at St Mary’s on Wednesday night, he gave an update on the Dutch defender’s fitness with the 25-year-old missing since January because of an ankle injury.
In his comments, the French boss said that he believes the directors want to keep Van Dijk at the club and that he expects him to be available for the first game of next season.
Despite being on the sidelines since the start of 2017 and being unlikely to make a comeback until pre-season, the Netherlands international is still said to be a £50m target for the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal this summer.
Because of incidences involving Southampton players over the course of the past few summers, perhaps it wasn’t wise for Puel to speak out on the captain’s future.
Here are three reasons his comments on Van Dijk’s future mean little…
Fans have heard it all before
Time after time over the course of the past three or four summers, Southampton chiefs have said that they want to keep hold of their best players during the summer and it has turned out not to be the case.
While there has been a few exceptions – such as when they demanded Morgan Schneiderlin stay another season – in the main the likes of Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane and Victor Wanyama have all gone without too much of a fight.
Fans can easily get their hopes when comments like this are made and Puel would have been better off avoiding the subject of the Van Dijk speculation altogether.
Money talks
Southampton have also proved over the course of the last few summers that money talks, and while that is fair enough as they look to continue to be a well run club, it means that they should keep quiet when it comes to the future of their key players.
With a potential world-record £50m fee said to be the asking price for Van Dijk, Saints would find it hard to turn down a bid of that amount should they get it from one of the Premier League’s big boys.
It is a price that would allow them to bring in three or four players to strengthen the squad, and that is an opportunity they are unlikely to refuse no matter how key the Dutchman may be.
Player power
Of course in the modern era players are having more influence on transfers and it is the reason the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley could leave Everton this summer.
If a player is seen to be unhappy or not putting in 100% effort then the manager will undoubtedly look to get rid as he wants committed players at the club.
While Van Dijk doesn’t seem like that kind of character, his injury problem in the second half of the season may convince him that he can’t turn down the opportunity to move to a club competing in the Champions League at the end of the season.
Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.
