Mauricio Pellegrino: 'Virgil van Dijk training with Southampton first team'

Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino has confirmed that Virgil van Dijk is training with the first team, but has not put a date on his return to first-team action.

The Dutch defender handed in a transfer request at the start of August amid interest from Liverpool, but the summer window shut with the player still on the Saints' books.

Despite having been made to train on his own for the last few weeks, Van Dijk is now back in the fold, and Pellegrino insists that "everything is normal" at present.

"Now he is training with the team again. It depends on the player now." the Argentine coach said at a press conference ahead of Saturday's Premier League match against Watford.

"We know he is coming from a long period of time without playing, he needs to train and to play games, but we will decide in the future. The best thing in football is that you have to show on the pitch how you are, but now everything is normal, and this is good news for us.

"I always talk to my players, and I have done with Virgil, but it is something private. But I repeat – now everything is normal, he is training with the team, he is at the same level training with us."

Van Dijk has made 68 appearances for Southampton since his 2015 move from Celtic, but has yet to feature this season.