Virgil van Dijk’s remarkable statement has thrown some clarity onto matters, but leaves Saints with a very stark choice to make.

There is surely no way back for him now at St Mary’s.

The chance of any reintegration is gone. If his desire all along has been to make his position untenable – something which the statement appears to try and dispute – then it has been achieved.

Leaving aside for one moment the rights and wrongs of the situation, it has to be game over for van Dijk now at Saints.

At least the Dutchman has done the correct thing at this juncture.

Handing in a formal transfer request, forgoing no doubts millions if a deal is to be struck, at least underlines his desire to move.

It leaves things somewhat clearer, as there can now only be two outcomes.

Either Saints stand firm and effectively have a player that they surely will not be able to field again, thus relegating him to spending at least until January training alone, or they sell.

Saints might get a hearty round of applause from the footballing world were they to take a principled stance and the former approach.

However, this is a business, and the business reality is that he needs to be moved on quickly.

Saints have fought for him but this has surely gone too far now.

Mauricio Pellegrino deserves to be able to plan for the future, and that means forgetting players who won’t figure and bringing in ones who will.

For Saints, it is now vital they stand their ground on the fee.

Liverpool or any other interested club may look to use the fact that they figure Saints now need to sell to try and get force them into a cheaper deal than they want. That is tough, but it is negotiations and the opposition will always try and seize on any perceived weakness.

You sense this saga is still far from a conclusion, but at least we know there is no way back for van Dijk now.