Virgil van Dijk has returned to the fringes of first team training.

The Dutch centre half, who has been sidelined since January, started the final week of the season by putting on his kit and heading out to train at Staplewood with the first team squad.

Though it was only light running rather full training, the 25-year-old is showing encouraging signs of progress.

“No injuries,” said Puel ahead of tomorrow night’s game against Manchester United. “A good thing this morning was I saw running Virgil on the pitch and this was good news.

“It was good to see him again on the pitch.”

However, there is no chance of van Dijk figuring in the final two games of the campaign.

“No he is not available,” insisted Puel. “It was his first run and it was a good thing.

“He does not have the possibility to participate with the team until the end of the season.”

Charlie Austin is also starting to get up to speed again, and played his first minutes since December as a late sub in the win over Middlesbrough.

There is now a clamour for the club’s top scorer to start against either United or Stoke in the final days of the campaign, but Puel reflected: “We have different possibilities and it’s a good thing to see Charlie come back on the squad of course but now he comes in with competition with other players like Long, Rodriguez, Gabbiadini.

“I hope he can play a little before the end of the season of course but competition is normal with different players.

“He needs rhythm and intensity after his five months out of the squad. It is normal but he is good physically fit and this is important.”

Puel faces some tricky decisions ahead of United.

He made seven changes for the game against Middlesbrough in order to keep players fresh, but after a solid win will have to drop some of his stars who performed well if he is to rotate again.

And all that while not really knowing exactly what his United counterpart Jose Mourinho will do as he targets success in the Europa League final next week.

“We can see this team all the time with great players, a strong squad,” reckoned Puel.

“For example, Mkhitaryan, Pogba, Rashford, can play against us because they recover the last game.

“They have a strong team and it will be a difficult game against Manchester United and they will try to play with a good intensity and take points off us.”

He added: “For me the opponent is not important. The most important for me is my team to enjoy our football, our game, and if we have the good focus and the good concentration about our game we can play against any opponent or great team. We need the good answer every time.

“We can play good counter attack and with possession also and this different identity and this is the most important to give the players the possibility to give the good answer and just this.”