Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino has revealed that Virgil van Dijk is in his thinking for Saturday's Premier League clash against Crystal Palace.

Van Dijk was widely expected to leave Southampton during the summer transfer window, with Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all credited with an interest in the Netherlands centre-back.

It is understood that the 26-year-old made himself unavailable for matches during the speculation surrounding his future, but he featured for Southampton's Under-23 team against Aston Villa on Monday night.

Despite not turning out for Southampton's first team since picking up an ankle injury in January, Pellegrino has hinted that Van Dijk could return against bottom-of-the-table Palace on Saturday afternoon.

Pellegrino told reporters, in quotes carried by Southampton's official website:

"Virgil was training well. He played 90 minutes the other day in a game, but tomorrow (Friday) we will decide.

"Hopefully he will be getting better every single week, but I am happy with that, because it's not about just Virgil. Everybody I think right now is ready to be part of the team."

Southampton, who have won just one of their four Premier League matches this season, will visit a Palace team now under the leadership of Roy Hodgson.

https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/deadlineday.mp4