The top six in English football is now the strongest it has been in years.

Chelsea may have won the Premier League title with relative ease, but the race to finish in the top four and thus, qualifiy for the Champions League was tight all season long.

Arsenal and Manchester ended up being the two teams to miss out, although the latter managed to secure a rare fifth spot in next year's competition by winning the Europa League.

For Arsenal, it will be the first time in 20 years they do not feature in Europe's greatest competition.

For Liverpool though, they secured their place on the final day of the season with a rampant 3-0 victory over already relegated Middlesbrough.

Jurgen Klopp has done extremely well to bring Liverpool back to the big time and exert his influence on a squad that was largely built by his predecessor, Brendan Rodgers.

The German is expected to splash this cash this summer in order to see the Reds become genuine title contenders next term and it is believed a defender is right at the top of the list, especially seeing as Lucas Leiva had to fill in that position at times last season.

Virgil Van Dijk has been is rumoured to top Klopp's wishlist and the Southampton defender could cost in the region of £50 million, a sizable profit on the £13 million they spent to prize him away from Celtic two years ago.

Well, one eagle-eyed punter has spotted that Paddy Power are no longer taking bets on the transfer.

It seems as if they have taken a flurry of bets on the deal, but one man placing his money on Van Dijk staying at St Mary's is his boss, Claude Puel.

Puel said at the climax of Southampton's season via the Southampton Echo: "Virgil had a bad injury, but now it’s okay, his surgery is finished and he can work normally and go into the gym for rehabilitation and come back next season with us ... with us!"

"He's our captain and he’s important for us," Puel continued. "He's matured and taken leadership on the team; he’s a fantastic player we know well.

"He’s important for us and now, of course, we will wait to the beginning of the season to see him on the pitch with Southampton.

"He has a long contract and the directors will want to keep him."