NOW the transfer window has shut, I am sure Virgil van Dijk will be determined to get back in the Saints first team.

I don’t know the man but I doubt he’ll waste any time sulking. Don’t forget he has lost his international place and, if he shows anything like the professionalism he displayed when he was playing regularly, I have no doubt he will be doing his best to get back in the Saints side.

That period of training on his own has gone now.

Apart from anything else, the dressing room patter and humour won’t allow him to sulk.

If he doesn’t do his best to get back in the team it will be bad for everybody.

He has to face the facts - no-one came in for him.

You can’t blame the club for that.

He’s got to knuckle down and get on with it. He needs to try to regain his stature within the club or regain interest from clubs who were interested but didn’t put in an offer.

I suppose most people will be surprised he’s still with us.

But I stated a while ago that I thought the club made the correct stance by saying they did not want or need to sell him.

Having signed a six-year contract only last year he should have told his agent “go away, nothing’s happening”.

Full marks to the club for that.

But then it appears that he’s been linked with Arsenal, Chelsea and mainly Liverpool, which to be fair would be like a home from home.

I’m sure he’s had many calls from the ex-Saints players at the club our supporters now refer to as ‘Liverhampton’.

Our supporters were on the club’s side, blaming van Dijk.

But none of us would have been too surprised if a huge offer had come in and he had been allowed to go.

The biggest surprise is that it appears no offer has been made.

But, as a former manager, I can understand why.

I sympathise with Mr Pellegrino and other ‘head coaches’ who do not have to deal with day-to-day issues which were the manager’s responsibility in my day.

Those are looked after by the many other staff at big clubs now.

I can only assume there was definite interest from two or three top managers/ head coaches as van Dijk was probably one of the top three centre-halves in the country when he was playing last year.

But we have to remember he has not kicked a ball in a competitive game since January.

Eight months out is a long time for a pro footballer.

If one of the top managers/ head coaches had gone to his board of directors and said he wanted to sign van Dijk the directors would then say “£50-70m for a defender who has not played since January?! If he has been out for so long it must have been quite a serious injury.

“Do you not think we should see him play again to be sure he can continue the standard he was at before the injury?”

It would probably not have got that far. The managers or coaches would probably have had similar reservations.

I would have definitely wanted to see him perform again in a first-class game because it’s very rare that a player misses half a season without having some after-effects.

It could well take a good few games for him to get back to hopefully the way he was before.

The other managerial challenge for our new boss is Messrs Yoshida and Stephens.

Let’s face it, Maya and Jack have done a very good job.

Does the club’s determination to keep van Dijk yet still sign Wesley Hoedt for £15m make them second choice?

They should be saying “we’ll show them they’re not going to get into this team easily”.

Then Pellegrino is faced with two record-priced defenders sitting in the dressing room waiting for an opportunity.

In some ways it’s good to have competition but when you’re talking about players at that level it could also cause unrest in the changing room.

The new man has given a good impression so far but this is a challenge to his managerial, as opposed to coaching, skills.

I’m sure all will respond well.

Yet it could all start again when the January window reopens . . .