Southampton's vital Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk, could be out for the remainder of the season after suffering a serious ankle injury, reportThe Sun.
Virgil van Dijk, 25, picked up the injury during the clash with current champions Leicester City in February, missing the EFL cup final with Manchester United. The cup run that ended at Wembley with a defeat to United would have been the biggest game of his career, and the Saints centre-back is set to be sidelined for up totwo months.
Gutted to be injured and not be able to help the boys over the next few weeks pic.twitter.com/QxTa6GoRHu
The £50m rated player is currently wearing a full protective boot casing using crutches to assist movement, an unfortunate sight for Southampton supporters up and down the country. Medical staff at St Mary's have assessed the injury and released they will not be rushing him back into training action.
Since joining Southampton for a fee just over£13m from Celtic,Virgil van Dijk has become a mainstay of their defence in what has been a season of positive change. Saints host Man Utd on Sundayin a grudge match following their cup final defeat, and Claude Puel's men will have to dig deep despite injury woes.
Southampton are in a situation with little to play for; being16 points outside of the top six and European qualification. They stand 11 points clear of the bottom three with 33 points left to play for in the 2016/17 season, so relegation looks unlikely too.
Claude Puel's side look towards a challenging March schedule, with an away meeting atTottenham looming on March 19th.