Wesley Hoedt believes he and Virgil van Dijk can play together with Southampton.

But he's also aware that Saints have top competition at centre-back, with Maya Yoshida, Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek frontline options.

“We're both Dutch so that's an advantage and we're very similar so we could have a very good partnership," he said about Van Dijk.

“Not only us but we have three other central defenders who are really good so that's nice. It's always good to have competition."

Keeping Van Dijk speaks volumes of Saints' ambitions, insists Hoedt.

“I think they've shown it [their ambition] by keeping the team together," he told the Daily Echo.

“That was their ambition and that's something that I really liked and they wanted me really fast so that was really why I wanted to come here."