Daily Echo:

VIRGIL van Dijk has been left out of the latest Netherlands squad as a result of his self-inflicted exile at Saints.

The 26-year-old had been banished to train alone by St Mary's chief Mauricio Pellegrino, having asked to leave the club before handing in an official transfer request, with the hope of forcing an exit through.

The centre-back missed the whole of pre-season as well as the beginning of the Premier League season and has not played in a match since January.

Saints have always maintained that he's not for sale, with Liverpool and Chelsea holding an interest.

And because of this ongoing saga, Van Dijk has now been overlooked by Netherlands coach Dick Advocaat for World Cup qualifiers against France and Bulgaria at the end of this month.

In a Dutch football association statement, the Oranje boss said: "He is currently not training at Southampton. It does not make sense to invite him.''

This latest news comes after Saints chairman reiterated that Van Dijk was not for sale, despite his wishes to leave.

Krueger said: "Virgil is not the only player that is involved in this he is part of the whole strategy of not selling. Nobody is for sale that we don't want to sell and so he is not for sale in this window. We have said it more than once."