CLAUDE Puel is aiming to stem the usual flow of summer departures from Saints.

In the last three years, Saints have always lost key players and the early forecasts suggest this closed season will be no different.

For some months Virgil van Dijk has been linked with a big-money move away, while Dusan Tadic, Ryan Bertrand, Cedric Soares and Jay Rodriguez have also been talked about for possible exits.

Puel and Saints’ executive director of football Les Reed have also kept an eye on potential incomings to St Mary’s.

“We work all season with Les [Reed] to see different players and I hope, of course, we can keep the maximum of our good players [this summer],” Puel said.

“It’s important to continue this work [with this group of players] where we improve from the beginning of the season.

“It will be interesting and important to keep them to continue this work.

“It’s important also to take information about other players because it’s normal work for a club, but, this, is not just to talk about Virgil because he’s a Southampton player and our captain.”

Captain Van Dijk is at the centre of an almost continuous stream of speculation, with, if reports are to believed, almost every leading Premier League club after his signature, with a fee of around £50m touted.

“I cannot prevent all the newspaper journalists writing speculation about him,” Puel said.

“It’s the same thing, he’s has a long contract with Southampton, he’s our captain, he’s an important player for us and I wait for him for next season as he cannot play until the end of this season.”