Tadic: Sky’s the limit for Saints’ van Dijk

Dusan Tadic believes injured Southampton team-mate Virgil van Dijk can achieve great things in the game upon his return.

Saints skipper van Dijk is recovering from a nasty knee injury sustained against Leicester City in January.

But Tadic, who played with van Dijk at Groningen as well as at current club Southampton, believes the big clubs in the league will soon bid for the Dutchman.

And the Serbian winger admits he hopes van Dijk can be patient and wait for the big offers to come when he returns to full fitness, the date of which is uncertain after manager Claude Puel admitted his recovery would be lengthy.

“Back then, you could see that he would become a very good player and we have missed him a lot [in the past few months]. I hope he can recover quickly and that he will keep playing how he was playing.

“I am not surprised [that big teams want Van Dijk].There are not so many choices [for top defenders]. He is a very good player and I hope he will recover well and keep playing well for Southampton.

“I think he is a clever boy and that he needs to be calm and work on recovering and then everything will come into place. You need to be professional and then everything that he wishes will happen.

“I miss him a lot. He was an important player on the pitch and we are very close.”