Southampton confident injured star has not played last game for the club

Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger is confident star defender Virgil van Dijk has not played his last game for the club and will turn down any offers from their Premier League rivals this summer.

Van Dijk, 25, was heavily linked with a big money move away from the club in January before a serious ankle injury against Leicester means the former Celtic defender may not feature again this season.

However, the Netherlands international is still expected to dominate transfer talk this summer after establishing himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League since joining Southampton in 2015, although Krueger doesn’t see him going anywhere.

“We are just out of the January transfer window and are striving to keep this group together and to build on it,” Krueger told talkSPORT, via The Daily Mail.

“Virgil is very committed to us for a long time and we don’t see anything but that in our future. He is our team captain and we don’t see him anywhere else than in red and white stripes.”

It would be a huge achievement for Southampton to keep hold of Van Dijk this summer, with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United all regularly linked his signature.

An indicator of just how impressive Van Dijk has been in the Premier League, only Eden Hazard (14), Alexis Sanchez (13) and Harry Kane (11) have won more WhoScored.com Man of the Match awards than the Saints defender (10).

For more stats on Virgil van Dijk, click here to visit his WhoScored player page