It was all intended as a bit of a laugh for the Saints squad in the best professional footballer "Bantz" traditions, but that was not how the media liked to portray it.

Saints like many Premier League teams had a Secret Santa for their last training session before Xmas and the unknown player who drew Virgil Van Dijk's name out of the hat certainly had a sense of humour.

Judging by the picture put up on Jose Fonte's instagram account the theme for the present buying seemed to be fancy dress, therefore the picture showed a variety of costumes including a Ninja Turtle, a Leprechaun, Superman and also Virgil Van Dijk in a manchester City shirt.

Although this was nothing more than dressing room humour in the festive period, some media sources put up headlines that gave the reader the impression that the shirt had been sent directly by Pep Guardiola.

Of course this means nothing in the grand scheme of whether Van Dijk stays or goes in January or whenever, but the media never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

For those who like to believe that pictures like this are actual pointers to what will happen and contain cryptic clues it should be noted.

Virgil Van Dijk is wearing a Saints training top under the Manchester City shirt, this reveals that Saints are the team closest to his heart.

There is a cardboard cut out of Ronaldo in the picture, this could have two meanings, the first from the book "The official Mafia guide to signs and their meanings" suggests that it could mean that Cristiano Ronaldo sleeps with the fishes, but as the Real Madrid superstar appears to have got to Xmas without being assasinated or buying an aquarium to live in, this seems unlikely, therefore the second meaning is that Saints have already tied up a deal with Real Madrid and that Ronaldo will be joining Sants in January, hence the cardboard cut out keeping his place in the team photo warm.

Jose Fonte has his socks pulled fully up, in Portugese maritime traditions, Sailors would pull both socks up to signify that they were about to leave port or that they were going to the bank.

Virgil Van Dijk is not carrying an umbrella, if he was intending to go to Manchester then this would be the first thing that he would need given that the City is renowned as the rainiest in England with an average daily rainfall of 3ft.

Claude Puel is not in the photo (Although he could be a teenage mutant ninja turtle) this could confirm that the French have no sense of humour or that he is happy to let the squad have a bit of bantz.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

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