SAINTS can pat themselves on the back because this summer's hard work has started on the best possible note.

They may not have yet managed to get Ronald Koeman to sign a new contract nor Victor Wanyama, but they are making a clear statement to those two.

They may not have confirmed any new signings, but what they have done is lay down a marker, a clear break from the past in which players' futures were in major doubt as their contracts wound down.

Before things could get to that point, Les Reed, the club's executive director of football, stopped Virgil van Dijk being surrounded by transfer speculation by getting him to sign a long-term contract.

Just as Chelsea snooped around goalkeeper Fraser Forster, Reed again laid down his trump card and got the ex-Celtic stopper to sign on the dotted line.

That has, first of all, doused any transfer window flames that might have started to spread around two of the club's finest players.

Any lingering doubts were snubbed out with fresh deals, with undoubtedly attractive wages and bonuses.

Then, secondly – and maybe more importantly as things come to a head over Koeman's new contract – it shows that Saints are not only signing their best players on new contracts, they are getting them on board for the long haul.

We're not talking a year extension or even a couple of years, Van Dijk scribbled his name under a SIX YEAR deal, while Forster signed for FIVE more years.

Not only that, but James Ward-Prowse has attached himself to club until 2022.

Actions, as they say, speak louder than words.

So when Koeman stepped into meetings regarding his future, seeking assurances over the club's ambitions and ability to move forward, Reed could point to Forster, Van Dijk and Ward-Prowse and say "there's your ambition, there's the indication that the club is moving forward, towards bigger and better things".

Wanyama should be able to look at his former Celtic team-mate Forster, Van Dijk and Ward-Prowse and realise that Saints are able to sell their ambitions to the best players at the club.

Not only that, but get them to tie themselves to the club for the foreseeable future.

The Kenyan may have already set his heart on a move away, but if he ever uses the excuse that Saints aren't showing the same ambition as him, then he simply won't be able to substantiate those claims.