Daily Echo:

Not all difficult situations have to lead to disastrous outcomes.

Turning a negative into a positive can be easier said than done on occasion, but Saints know they have to be go-ahead and upbeat as they look ahead to the season.

However, it is proving difficult.

While most people would rather be looking forward to a new campaign, new hope, new possibilities under a new manager, there has been a dark cloud looming over St Mary’s.

It is, of course, the ongoing problem with Virgil van Dijk.

The situation has become a saga now, and it’s one that nobody – including those at Saints, and probably the player himself – knows the final outcome of.

Surely the uncertainty is causing problems, not only in the camp, but in terms of whether to stick or twist in the transfer market, and for Pellegrino trying to plan his team for the new season.

Saints’ 4-0 home defeat to Augsburg proved there is still much to be done before Swansea turn up for the first day of the Premier League season, but there is not much time.

Having refused the latest Saints olive branch, to back down having stayed behind for the trip to France with time to mull over his situation, van Dijk’s stance remains unchanged.

He wants a move away from St Mary’s, and against that backdrop Mauricio Pellegrino doesn’t feel he can have him involved in and around the first team.

It is a sorry situation really. It doesn’t seem like a particularly nice way to behave, but the way football is these days it is hardly surprising.

Which direction this now takes is anybody’s guess.

Van Dijk appears to be making his position at Saints all but untenable, perhaps in the hope that will convince the club to reluctantly sell him.

Saints are insistent they are not going to do business, and football fans all around the country would no doubt applaud if they stick to their guns and hold him to the six-year contract he was happy to sign only just over a year ago.

However, reintegrating him back into the fold with the anger amongst the fanbase towards him will be hard without some sort of unlikely grovelling apology.

Also having not kicked a ball in anger since January he isn’t exactly going to be fit to play for a while anyway.

Whether Saints can really just let him waste away, or whether, when push comes to shove, they will feel they have to sell if things don’t change is hard to call.

It is a case of which side will hold their nerve, will either blink, at the moment.

In the end it may, though, have to come down to a cold, hard, business decision. That would obviously mean selling if the asking price is met.

Saints need to try and stay positive – easier said than done after a chastening defeat last night.

However, it seemed like the end of the world when van Dijk picked up his long term injury in January. For some of the reaction you could have been forgiven for thinking the season was over, especially with Jose Fonte moving on as well.

And yet, without that injury, what would have become of Jack Stephens?

Here was a young centre half who surely would continue to have been frozen out. Even those behind the scenes were expecting that he would probably be sold, dropping down the divisions.

Instead he got his chance and stepped up and has improved in leaps and bounds.

Likewise, centre half partner Maya Yoshida, occasionally derided by the fans when his name appeared on the teamsheet, has become far more consistent, cut out the errors and proven an experienced and capable leader.

Now there is Jan Bednarek as well, another young centre half, who has been recruited this summer. Maybe he will take his chance.

You cannot say that Saints would not miss van Dijk. What you can say is that they need more clarity now. That was clear last night. They need to know whether they can count on him. If not surely the transfer market beckons.

Saints were well beaten by Augsburg, a middling Bundesliga team.

Pellegrino didn’t put out his strongest side, but there was still enough there to have done better than a nasty defeat in the manager’s first taste of the St Mary’s dugout.

Saints had some first half chances, Marwin Hitz saving from James Ward-Prowse before Shane Long hit the post early in the game.

Towards the end of the half Ward-Prowse made a bit of a mess of a headed chance while Nathan Redmond rattled the crossbar from distance.

But in between Saints had conceded twice.

They were warned several times before Michael Gregoritsch produced a shot from 25 yards that moved in the air. Fraser Forster got a touch to it but couldn’t keep it out.

It got worse on 39 minutes as Gregoritsch outjumped Charlie Austin to produce a flicked header from about 12 yards out that gave Forster no chance.

Saints started the second half with more purpose but ended up conceding twice more.

On 67 minutes Ja-Cheol Koo had the freedom to head home unchallenged from Alfred Finnbogason’s right wing free kick, finishing via the underside of the bar.

The misery was complete eight minutes from time as Raphael Framberger was allowed space to press forward and drilled a low shot from just inside the area across goal and into the bottom corner.

The uncertainty in Saints’ defending is matched by the uncertainty over van Dijk. It is time for some resolution.

Saints: Forster, Pied, Bednarek, Yoshida (Stephens 45), Targett (Bertrand 72), Hojbjerg (Davis 80), Romeu (Clasie 45), Ward-Prowse (Boufal 72), Redmond (McQueen 45), Long (Tadic 64), Austin (Gabbiadini 64).