The murmurs started at about midday. A couple of fans outside St Mary’s were quick to point out that they hadn’t seen defender Virgil van Dijk with the rest of the players as they arrived at the ground in their club tracksuits.
Sure enough, though, he did turn up but about an hour later with his daughter Nila and not in Saints attire. Confirmation came at 2pm that he had been left out of the matchday squad a week after he was dropped to the bench at Chelsea.
If Van Dijk does get his wish to leave the south coast for either Manchester City or Liverpool there is no doubt Mauricio Pellegrino will be losing a player of supreme talent.