Bookmkakers are starting to believe that Southampton will keep hold of their key players Virigl van Dijk and Cedric Soares.

Both Dutch star van Dijk and Portuguese full-back Cedric have been strongly linked with moves.

Van Dijk has attracted interest from Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool – who have all made approaches, whilst Tottenham are amongst a number looking at Cedric.

Southampton’s executive director Les Reed insists that they are no looking at letting either player leave and has said: “None of those players are for sale. I can’t make it any plainer than that and that’s the way we mean to go forward.

“We built this squad over some time and think we have a strong squad. We will fine-tune it but, other than that, we are looking forward to a very competitive season next year and we plan to go forward on that basis.

“There may be players that go on the basis it is the right thing for them and the club at that given time, but we don’t expect that to be wholesale and this is simply doing sound business in the transfer window.

“We track players over years and when the new manager comes in like Mauricio, we take him through that process. He’d done his homework on our squad and we don’t believe we need to turn over players every year just to freshen things up.

“We’ve got a strong squad now and it would be about adding players bringing more value and power. It’s not broken so there is no need to bring in players just because of fashion or to get people excited in the transfer market.”

Whilst most Bookmakers have closed their markets on Ryan Betrand leaving – with a move to Manchester City this summer looking more than likely, the chances of keeping van Dijk and Cedric look to be improving.

Ladbrokes are offering Evens that both players stay, and 3/1 on them both leaving.

Ladbrokes News’ Dave Burin told us: “Southampton could be set to buck the trend this summer by clinging onto their key men, with even-money for both Cedric and Van Dijk to stay loyal to the Saints.”

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