Virgil Van Dijk has spoken to the Liverpool Echo about how he is not worried about a hostile reception and is relishing a return to the place that made him a household name yet he appears to treat with nothing more than distain.
Some players have a touch of class about them, that is shown when they make a return to their old stamping grounds, any player who leaves a club usually gets a rough ride from those who formerly cheered him, but the level of that welcome is usually determined in how they left the club.
In recent years the likes of Luke Shaw, Callum Chambers, Rickie Lambert and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain have returned to St Mary's to a reasonable welcome, Adam Lallana has had a rough ride, perhaps unfairly given his years of service to the club before leaving, whereas for Dejan Lovren it seems that he will never be forgiven for his "heads already in Liverpool" jibe.
Virgil Van Dijk is set to receive an even hotter welcome than Lovren due to his behaviour over the past 8 months.
This will not be the usual football supporters being miffed about a player leaving, this is more than that, it is about a spoiled brat of a player who although happy to be paid a not inconsiderable amount to sit on his rear end injured for the first six months of the year, repaid his employers and more poignantly the fans who sung his name by going behind their backs and negotiating with Liverpool, but then refusing to train with the squad or play when not allowed to just leave when he wanted to.
That would have been bad enough, but he did not even have the class of the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin of Victor Wanyama, yes they had public outbursts, but they then accepted that they had to stay at St Mary's and put in a final season for the club that meant they left with respect from the Saints supporters.
But Van Dijk could not even do that, when he finally realised he had to start playing or he would find himself sat in the reserves, he put in a series of performances that were so far off his previous level of effort and committment it was embarrasing for him as a man let alone a so called professional football player.
That is why Saints eventually reached the end of their tether with him and stopped picking him and were quite happy to let him go to Liverpool for a grossly inflated fee.
But Van Dijk cannot even show a small bit of remorse or gratitude to either Saints as his former employers or sadly the fans who have done nothing wrong, he has to make a crass statement to the Liverpool Echo about how he is relishing the return and doesn't care if he is booed.
"What can you do? Maybe they can boo the whole game, what can you do about it? You can’t do anything about it."
"I made the decision, I have enjoyed every bit of it and I am very grateful for everything that they (Southampton) did for me. I have moved on, they have moved on."
"I know they are struggling and we need to win. I am going there with only one mindset and that is to win."
"Obviously it will be nice to see the players I have played with and the friends I have there but, for me, it is going to be about one thing only and that is to win the game.”
Although times have been tough since his departure, almost under the radar, results have improved since Lovren left, clearly in December the morale of the squad was affected as was shown after a dismal home defeat to Leicester City when he was dropped from the squad.
But since it was announced that he was leaving, yes we dropped down the table, but in the 8 games we have played we have lost only once and found ourselves in the last 16 of the FA Cup, if we can continue that improvement then perhaps Van Dijk might just find himself regretting not staying at St Mary's till the end of the season, even now Saints have a better chance of landing a trophy than Van Dijk does, we are more likely to win the FA Cup than they the Champions League.
Indeed on curent form we are better than them, in their last four matches they have been knocked out of the FA Cup and took only 4 points from 3 Premier League games, in the same period, we have progressed to the next round of the FA Cup and took 5 points.
On Sunday Dejan Lovren will be relieved, that is if he is even playing or Van Dijk for that matter as their partnership is not exactly strong as evidenced in the past few games, but Lovren will no longer be public enemy number 1, that will be reserved for Virgil Van Dijk, a spoilt brat of a player who will receive abuse, not because he went to a bigger club for more money, but because of his behaviour as a man !