Virgil Van Dijk has won the voting for the player of the month on both this website and also the official Southampton Football Club vote.

It is fair to say that when Toby Alderweireld opted to join Tottenham Hotspur rather than Saints most Saints supporters were as disappointed as when Dejan Lovren first went to Liverpool, however in a repeat of the Lovren situation it now all seems a distant memory and most would conclude that once again Saints have not only replaced but upgraded in the central defensive department.

Virgil Van Dijk has now won both the Club's official vote for October, but also the Ugly Inside vote.

The Dutch central defender has put in a number of outstanding displays in October including his second goal for the club against Leicester City in a month that saw us start it with a great win at Stamford Bridge and end it by beating Aston Villa to win through to the quarter finals of the Capital One Cup, remaining unbeaten throughout.

In the official poll Van Dijk took 60% of the vote, beating Pelle, Mane & Cedric Soares to the award.

In the TUI Poll it was a little closer, Van Dijk scored 49%, Pelle was a close second on 38% with Steven Davis in third on 9%

Perhaps Graziano Pelle can be a little disappointed, after all he also had a great month, starting it with his best ever game in a Saints shirt in the win at Chelsea, putting in a performance that many would agree was the best display by a central striker for Saints in a decade as he made two and scored one of our three goals and ending it by scoring what turned out to be the winner against Aston Villa.

But few would argue that Virgil Van Dijk was a worthy winner, we had to wait for him to arrive, but once he did he soon showed just why Ronald Koeman rated him so highly and was willing to wait for his man.

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls