Virgil van Dijk set for Southampton return

Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino has revealed Virgil van Dijk will return to action for the reserves as he continues to build up match fitness.

The defender has returned to the senior squad after training on his own following a summer-long transfer saga which seen his potential move to Liverpool fall through.

Van Dijk hand a transfer request in at the start of August, but Southampton refused to sell after an illegal approach from Liverpool, who issued a public apology regarding the incident.

The 26-year-old has been out of action since sustaining an ankle injury in January but will play some part in Southampton reserves' clash against Aston Villa.

"Virgil is coming from a long period of time without playing a game. This is my concern right now," said Pellegrino.

"He will play Monday in the reserve team. We try to help him to be ready to help the team.

"He was training well this week. Now everything is normal."

Saints' chairman Ralph Krueger repeatedly ruled out the Dutchman leaving the club over the summer and said keeping hold of the former Celtic player was "the statement we need to make".

And Pellegrino echoed that message, insisting the club need to keep their best players.

"It is a message that at this moment, we don't need to sell our best players, and we need to keep our best players to be more competitive," Pellegrino added.

"It is a message from the owners, the board, our chairman and directors, it is really good.

"We are now in a situation where making a small step will be really difficult for us, and to achieve this, we had to keep our best players, to work with them and to build a team, that is the most difficult thing."

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