Bertrand insists Van Dijk has been welcomed back
Southampton defender Ryan Bertrand has been discussing how the squad welcomed back Virgil van Dijk.
The England international spoke exclusively with Sky Sports about the debacle that surrounded the Netherlands international throughout the course of the summer, and insisted that there are no bad vibes within the camp.
It is nice to keep hold of players. There were no bad vibes in the dressing room. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and what they want to do in their lives, but we just get on with it and play as a team.
Van Dijk made several efforts to leave Saints. He met with representatives of other Premier League clubs during his spell on the sidelines, refused to play in pre-season and handed in a transfer request as he looked to force through a move.
However, Bertrand has denied that there is bad blood between the other Southampton players and Van Dijk, and has spoken of how the club were well within their rights to retain his services.
He has clearly stated that there are some big teams involved and wanted him and he just wanted to go on and pursue his career and move on to really big things.
The 26-year-old centre-back could be in line to start next to Bertrand in defence on Saturday, when Southampton make the trip to Selhurst Park as they look to overcome Crystal Palace.
But he had a contract with Southampton and it did not happen. The club did not want to sell him and that is it, that is football.