Southampton have gone from heroes to zeros in the space of just three days.

On Thursday evening, the Saints overturned a one-goal deficit to defeat the Italian giants Inter Milan at St Mary’s Park.

Goals from Virgil van Dijk and an own goal from Nagatomo sealed the three points and helped set Southampton on course to progress through the group stages.

It was all we here in the Transfer Tavern could do to stop the raucous choruses of ‘Oh When the Saints go Marchin’ in’ from carrying on throughout the night into the next morning.

However, the mood at the South Coast club turned sour this weekend as they failed to get the better of out-of-form Hull City.

They restricted the Saints to one in the first-half and looked a different side after the break with Robert Snodgrass leading the revival.

Amidst all this though, Southampton have one of the best centre-backs currently in the Premier League in the shape of Virgil Van Dijk.

He has blossomed in England’s best league and there are unsurprisingly a number of keen suitors but Southampton would be foolish to let him go.

Here are THREE reasons the punters at the Tavern think they must keep a hold of him if they want to succeed.

Wrong message

If Southampton were to sell van Dijk, he would just be added to the long list of players who have been sold by the Saints to their richer competitors.

Namely, over the past couple of seasons, Southampton fans have seen some of the best players leave St Mary’s Park including Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, Morgan Schneiderlin, Rickie Lambert, Victor Wanyama, and Dejan Lovren.

Whilst they’ve evidently reinvested well, it is quite telling that so many of the Southampton players depart because it shows a lack of ambition on their part.

Yes, they may not be able to compete with the financial muscle of the bigger sides but they could do a better job of holding on to their most prized assets.

There is no one in line to replace

Alongside Jose Fonte, van Dijk has formed a fantastic partnership.

The two of them look very settled next to one another and seem to know each other’s game inside out.

However, if van Dijk were to leave, there are very few options on the bench for Southampton to replace him adequately.

Undoubtedly, Maya Yoshida would take his place and whilst he is an able centre-half, he isn’t as imposing of a figure as Van Dijk, at the back or going forward.

The Dutchman isn’t just a phenomenal centre-half defensively. He also has goals in his locker and to lose that would be a huge blow.

Just look at the stats!

Using stats from our mates at whoscored.com it doesn’t take a lot of analysis to realise how good van Dijk really is.

Just focussing on this year’s performances of those who have featured more than 8 times, Van Dijk is rated as the third best defender in the league behind Laurent Koscielny and Daley Blind.

Through analysis his interceptions, tackles, blocks and passing per game it appears that he is one of the most highly rated and highly regarded centre-backs in the league.

He is joint top with Winston Reid when it comes to clearances per game which underlines his ability to understand and sense danger.

There’s no denying, he’s a dream centre-back for most clubs so Southampton will have to work hard to keep him.