Southampton captain Virgil van Dijk finally handed in a transfer request on Monday following a summer of speculation surrounding his future.

The Saints skipper has been linked with moves to the likes of Premier League rivals Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City throughout out the summer, with the former forced to issue an official apology and say they had ended their interest in the player in June after the south coast outfit accused them of tapping the 26-year-old up.

Now the Dutchman has told the club that he wants to leave, but the latest reports in The Telegraph suggest that Southampton still aren’t willing to sell the centre-back as they look to hold on to their key stars.

Nevertheless, manager Mauricio Pellegrino may feel that he needs to bring in a new defender as a successor to Van Dijk in case the situation changes later this month, and Toulouse centre-half Issa Diop could be the perfect candidate.

Here are three reasons Diop would be the ideal Van Dijk replacement…

Defensive abilities

While the 20-year-old is obviously far from being the finished article due to his tender years, neither was Van Dijk when he moved to St Mary’s from Celtic in 2015.

Diop has certainly shown that he has the defensive capabilities to be the Dutchman’s replacement though as he was part of a Toulouse defence that conceded just 41 goals in 38 Ligue 1 matches last term – they conceded three in their first game of the 2017/18 campaign against Monaco without him as he was on the sidelines with a back injury.

The Frenchman made 117 clearances and 50 interceptions in 30 French top flight appearances last season while he also successfully won 37 tackles.

Aerial presence

One of the things that Southampton would miss the most if Van Dijk did leave would be the height and aerial ability he has brought to the backline.

The 26-year-old won an impressive 96 aerial duels in just 21 Premier League appearances last term and Saints may look to replace the Dutchman with a player that has a similar presence and strength in the air.

Diop certainly has that as he stands at 6'4" tall – the same as Van Dijk – while he successfully won 42 of the 68 aerial duels he faced in 30 Ligue 1 appearances last term.

While it may not be a perfect record, it is certainly something to work with and would also allow him to be a threat in the opposition penalty area too.

Potential

Southampton love to bring new players to the club that they can develop and increase the value of and they would have the perfect opportunity to do that with Diop.

The 20-year-old has shown with his performance in the French top flight for Toulouse that he can have a bright future in the game, and he may not even have stopped growing physically because of his age.

The France Under-21 international has shown his ability on the ball by successfully completing 14 of the 17 take-ons he attempted in 30 Ligue 1 appearances last term, and with a bit of fine tuning on many aspects of his game he could easily go on to become their next central defensive star – after the likes of Toby Alderweireld and Van Dijk – if he does move to St Mary’s.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.