Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger is confident club captain Virgil van Dijk will remain on the south coast despite transfer speculation.

The defender has become a crucial part of the Southampton squad since joining the club from Celtic in 2015 and was given the captain’s armband after Jose Fonte left to join West Ham United in January.

Van Dijk’s impressive form has started to turn the heads of the top four, though, with both Liverpool and Manchester City linked with a £45million summer swoop for the defender to help shore up their back line.

But Saints chairman Krueger believes that the Dutchman will stay at St Mary’s next season, regardless of the interested clubs.

Speaking to Talksport, he said: “Virgil is committed to us for a long time and we don’t see anything but that in our future.

“We will be sitting together in a few weeks to look at our summer transfer window and what the plans are.

“At the moment, Virgil is very committed to us. He is our team captain and we see him in our red and white stripes.”

Krueger also reassured Saints fans that there will be no repeat of top players leaving the club this summer.

In previous years, players like Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne and Victor Wanyama have all left Southampton to join bigger clubs. However, the Saints’ chairman is keen to keep a hold of the side that led the club to their first major cup final since 2003.

“We would like to keep this group together,” he said.

“We don’t want to do what we did in the last three summers every year. We would like to move away from that and we feel confident this summer will be a lot quieter in Southampton and we can keep the core of this team moving forward for a few years.

“That is going to be important when you see how excellent the group is right now and how exciting the football is. The game we are playing is a pleasure to watch and a pleasure to be part of.”