Virgil van Dijk has cemented his place as one of the finest centre-halves in world football and he has come a long way since he first walked through the doors of Parkhead, which he talks about in a Goal interview this week.
Van Dijk signed for the Hoops from Groningen for £2.6m and it soon became clear that he was head and shoulders above any other player in the league. His biggest flaw was that he borderline refused to get out of second gear, not that he needed to.
He was signed in 2013 and left for Southampton in 2015 so never faced any real challenge domestically because of Rangers “adventures” in the lower leagues but his talent was there for all to see.
However, he did have one fear before he set foot in Paradise, speaking to Neil Jones for Goal he said: “I think everyone knows of Scott Brown anyway, so before I arrived there I was like: How will he be? Will he be that crazy outside the pitch as he is on?.”
Is Virgil van Dijk Celtic's greatest ever centre-half?
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Scott Brown and Neil Lennon both spoke highly of Van Dijk on the video and he remembers his time at the club fondly, as do these Celtic fans who took to Twitter in response to the video.
Good luck to @VirgilvDijk
A top player in the hoops,we knew we couldn’t hold onto him forever(although we would have loved to) but he was destined for the very top. Pity the “top” english teams couldn’t see it for only £13M.
Look daft now,dont they????????— KeefJackass (@ScotsIrishCelt) November 12, 2019
Once a celt always a celt ????????
— John White (@L7IG) November 12, 2019
Big Virg knows his stuff
— Stephen Walsh???????????? (@rebelcountybhoy) November 12, 2019
Scott wasn’t kiddin nir was he the only one that saw VVD as the Rolls Royce of the team. What a Talent !!
— Kevin (@kevin_muir) November 12, 2019
Fancy running yer contract down and coming back big man….
— Scott Alcroft (@ScottAlcroft) November 12, 2019
And slightly tongue in cheek given the Liverpool centre-half’s recent success….
Should never have left, all downhill from there… ????
— Tim Collins (@TimCollins11) November 12, 2019