Jamie Carragher confesses that when he first saw Virgil Van Dijk in action at Celtic Park, he was sceptical, believing the defender was too BIG to succeed in the English Premier League…
The Dutch centre-back is poised to secure his second Premier League title with Liverpool, having departed Celtic ten years ago for Southampton before making a £75 million transfer to Anfield three years after that.
The 33-year-old is regarded by some as the greatest defender to have ever played in the Premier League, with Carragher being an admirer of Van Dijk ever since he first made his impact in England.
Carragher didn’t understand the VVD hype
However, the Liverpool icon and Sky Sports pundit admits he initially didn’t understand the hype and could see why several clubs hesitated to make a move before Southampton ultimately took the chance.
“I remember going to a game, Celtic v Ajax in the Champions League in 2013/14,” he told the Stick to Football podcast.
“I didn’t really know too much about Van Dijk. And I think Steve Bruce might have been manager of Hull or someone near them. And there was a few people watching Van Dijk, and I watched him in the game. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Oh, they should have signed him’. He almost looked too big, at that time. Do you know what I mean?”
“So, you’re thinking, ‘Can he move? Because he almost played that cool and that sort of slow motion. And teams were watching him, and obviously just didn’t want to take a chance.”
Virgil had a few patchy moments in Europe for Celtic
Ironically, Virgil had a few patchy moments in Europe for Celtic, but it was clear from early on in his Hoops career he would go onto become a top-class footballer and play at the very highest level.
As Celtic close in on a league title this weekend, Van Dijk and Liverpool can seal it tomorrow afternoon against Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham at Anfield.
Conor Spence
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