Virgil van Dijk could snub big money offers from Manchester City and Chelsea in the summer to stay at Southampton.
According to a report in The Sun, Saints are confident about holding onto the defender and believe that by accepting the captaincy van Dijk could stay on at St Mary’s until the end of the 2017/18 season.
There was heavy speculation during December and January that van Dijk would be on his way out of Southampton but after accepting a transfer request and selling Jose Forte to West Ham the Saints board refused to consider any offer for van Dijk.
Manchester City and Chelsea are expected to be joined by Paris St Germain and possibly Manchester United in the summer chase to sign van Dijk but another option- staying on at Southampton- has now emerged.
Having cashed in on half a dozen players over the last few seasons Southampton are under no pressure to cash in on their club captain.
Van Dijk is currently out of action due to an ankle injury and signed a new six year contract in May 2016 just nine months after leaving Celtic in a £10m deal.