Van Dijk won´t be sold, insists Southampton chairman

Southampton captain Virgil van Dijk will not be leaving at the end of the season, with chairman Ralph Krueger insisting the in-demand Dutchman is “very committed”.

Van Dijk has been linked with a big-money move away from Southampton as Premier League duo Manchester City and Liverpool reportedly circle.

The 25-year-old Netherlands international, who missed Sunday’s 3-2 EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester United due to injury, has impressed since arriving from Celtic in 2015.

Krueger, however, said Southampton have no plans to sell the centre-back.

“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.

“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.”

Southampton have sold the likes of Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Morgan Schneiderlin, Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane in recent years, and Krueger hopes to buck that trend.

He added: “We don’t want to do what we did in the last three summers every year.

“We would like to move away from that and we feel confident this summer will be a lot quieter in Southampton and we can keep the core of this team moving forward for a few years.

“That is going to be important when you see how excellent the group is right now and how exciting the football is.

“The game we are playing is a pleasure to watch and a pleasure to be part of.”