There are not many journalists in the national media with as much knowledge of Southampton Football Club as Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph, when he says something you listen !
Jeremy Wilson is one of the most respected football journalists in the national football media, he is known for his well researched and thoughtful musings on football, starting his career a the Daily Echo and writing a book on the club.
Apart from a couple of local journalists there is probably noone in the media who as as much knowledge of Saints and their workings, or who are closer to the club, so when he says something you know that it is coming from close to St Mary's.
Liverpool of course have been vriefing the media for months now to create an illusion that Van Dijk will inevitably leave and to unsettle the player himself so it is only natural that Saints will use their media contacts to highlight their position.
Jeremy Wilson has reported today that Saints stance remains unchanged and that they will not sell Virgil Van Dijk and that the club are intending re integrating him back in the squad next week on their return from France.
In an article published on the Telegraph's website Wilson says.
"Saints hope to reintegrate Virgil van Dijk into first-team training next week, with new manager Mauricio Pellegrino preparing to again tell his captain that he will not be sold this summer. "
"Southampton’s new board of directors remain adamant that this will be the first summer since the departure of former chairman Nicola Cortese in 2014 in which they will not make major sales. That stance extends to Ryan Bertrand — who has been of interest to Manchester City — as well as Van Dijk. "
"Southampton remain confident that Van Dijk will accept the situation, not least because any future chance of a move to a club in the Champions League would hardly be helped by a loss of form or any question-marks about his commitment. Van Dijk, whose contract does not expire until 2022, has not played since January following an ankle injury and it was Pellegrino who decided that he should stay outside the group until he was fully committed psychologically."
"As well as keeping Van Dijk and Bertrand, Southampton are looking to make one or two additions and there has been interest in Tottenham’s Kevin Wimmer."
This is heartening news for Saints fans as it shows that the club does not intend to let him go easily, some sections of the support have been cynical about the club's intentons and claimed that they are preparing the ground for a sale, however this shows that this is far from the case, perhaps this has a long way to go still and may still end in Van Dijk leaving, but it is most certainly going to be when Saints say and for the fee they demand and not because Liverpool say so.
This is bad news for Liverpool who clearly do not want to spend the going rate for Van Dijk and have been hoping that a disgruntled player would force Saints to sell cheaply, but that is not the mood of the Saints camp.
They have intimated that if he were to strike or not try to hard next season that Van Dijk would be the one with most to lose, not to mention next years World Cup.
This situation is going to esculate soon, it has been a phoney war so far with no one actually saying anything, Liverpool haven't bid, Van Dijk has said nothing and therefore it has been hard for Saints to comment on what is after all a media campaign from sources close to Liverpool, the reality is that most media reports have merely been the same old story rehashed rather than anything new, add to that the fact that Liverpool have very acive fans media sites and the flames are fanned to give the impression that everything is a formality.
That's not the case at St Mary's, let battle commence !