Southampton are resigned to selling Virgil van Dijk in the January transfer window after he was once again left out of manager Mauricio Pellegrino’s squad.

Manchester City have moved ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea in the race to sign central defender Van Dijk, who Southampton still want £70million for.

But the Dutchman’s value has not been helped by the fact Pellegrino has now dropped him for Southampton’s last three games.

Having been an unused substitute against Chelsea, Van Dijk was omitted from the matchday squads for the draw with Huddersfield and the Boxing Day thrashing at Tottenham Hotspur.

With City preparing an opening bid of around £60m, Pellegrino said: “We have to wait until January. I can’t control the market, so we’ll see what happens.”

Mauricio Pellegrino said it was best to leave Van Dijk out the squad credit: Getty Images

In terms of his decision to leave Van Dijk out of his squad, Pellegrino added: “I decided it’s best for the team and there has been a lot speculation.

“The manager decides what is the best. We win, draw and lose with and without Virgil. In this squad, I have a lot of players that can play. We are used to changes. We can’t use this performance as an excuse.”

Southampton turned down bids from Liverpool and Chelsea for Van Dijk in the summer, and Pellegrino said: “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.

Kane's hat-trick saw off Southampton and left a section of Saints fans questioning their manager's future credit: AP

“He’s part of our club and he’s an important player for us, but we’ll see what happens. I can’t control the whispers and news from outside.”

Without Van Dijk, Southampton were thrashed by a rampant Tottenham and a section of travelling fans at Wembley chanted ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ at Pellegrino.

“The fans have the same feeling we have,” said Pellegrino, whose Southampton team have now won one of their last 11 games.

“Everybody comes to try to see this team giving everything, trying to win points and games. Sometimes the defeat and bad moment is part of our life. People want to see a reaction, the spirit of aggression, fighting for every ball. We did that in the second half, but we need to show it from beginning.”