Southampton suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur as the Lilywhites thumped five goals past them on Boxing Day and once again manager Mauricio Pellegrino chose to leave Virgil Van Dijk out of the team.
Speaking after the match, Pellegrino revealed that Van Dijk is now free to leave the club during the January transfer window and this bit of news is sure to excite Manchester City and Chelsea – both of whom are currently favourites to land the centre-back.
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“I have to decide what’s best for the team and around Virgil, there has been a lot of speculation,” Pellegrino said after the 5-2 loss to Spurs.
“The manager decides what is the best. We win, draw and lose, with and without Virgil.
“We have to wait until January. I can’t control the market so we’ll see what happens.
“We tried to do the best for the team. The board decided to try to keep our best player at the club.
“This situation is a big learning curve for everybody and now we decide what is the best for the club.”
Van Dijk was chased by Liverpool all throughout the summer but the Saints refused to sell him at that point of time. Now though Southampton have changed their stance but only if a club is willing to play a £70 million fee for the Dutchman.
Read:Â Spurs to compete against Man United for the signing of 17-year-old Championship ace.
Read:Â Has Ross Barkley already agreed to join a London club?
Read:Â Chelsea close to selling their star player to Real Madrid – and no, it’s not Eden Hazard.
