Virgil van Dijk’s private conversation over nearly joining Man Utd came to light last year – and the man who brought him to British football has this week suggested some top clubs were “not brave enough” to sign him when he was at Celtic
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Van Dijk quizzed on if Liverpool are limiting Netherlands game time
Nowadays, Virgil van Dijk is widely regarded as the world’s best centre-back.
But it is only in recent years that there has been such unanimous approval of Van Dijk’s talents.
Earlier this week, the man responsible for bringing Van Dijk to British football claimed many English clubs made “excuses” not to sign him.
David Moss was head of Celtic’s senior scouting department at the time of the defender’s arrival in Scotland from Groningen after watching him “stand out like a sore thumb” for the Dutch club.
“He (Van Dijk) was fast, won all his headers, you couldn’t beat him one-v-one, he could pass 60 yards on both feet and he scored free-kicks,” Moss told Goal .
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“Incredibly, I kept getting excuses,” Moss added. “They were often about his performances in the Champions League or saying doing it in the Scottish league didn’t mean a lot, and people wouldn’t listen.
“Everyone inside Celtic had total belief in him, but a lot of people in football didn’t. For me, he didn’t need the Southampton step, he was ready for a big six move straight from Celtic. They just weren’t brave enough to bring him in.”
Whilst Van Dijk eventually got his move to the Premier League, joining Southampton in 2015, some doubts seemingly remained when the time came to step up.
Manchester United emerged as one of the clubs strongly linked with his signature in the summer of 2017, but seemingly still had doubts.
Earlier this year, Van Dijk’s former Southampton team-mate, Charlie Austin, disclosed a private chat he had with Van Dijk in which he revealed United opted to sign Victor Lindelof instead of him.
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Austin told talkSPORT: “I remember the back end of his Southampton career we were on the bench together at Chelsea away.
“I sat there I said, ‘come on Virgil, what’s going on, surely Man Utd must’ve been in for you? Massive club in England, etc’.
“He said, ‘you know what Chaz, in the summer it was like between more or Lindelof and they signed Lindelof’.
“I was like, ‘you are joking!’ Nobody knows that, he told me that on the bench. I couldn’t believe it, I was just as gobsmacked as you.
“Obviously there was talk in the summer he was going to go there then they’ve gone and taken Lindelof instead.”
Eventually, Liverpool were the club who were convinced Van Dijk was the right man.
Just a few months after a move to Manchester United collapsed, Liverpool spent £75million to take the Dutchman to Anfield.
Van Dijk and Liverpool have not looked back, enjoying tremendous success including Premier League and Champions League victories.
With United spending a world-record fee on Harry Maguire in 2019 and then seeking to upgrade Lindelof with Raphael Varane this summer, it’s not hard to imagine the Van Dijk saga evoking some regrets.