Virgil van Dijk is rising to prominence in much of the European media. For a while he’s been considered as something of a novelty given what Liverpool paid Southampton for the defender, and any chat is usually about the transfer fee and how high it was.
However, things are changing and the Dutchman is increasingly recognised as one of the best central defenders around, with the fee not seen as quite so ridiculous any longer.
It’s also leading to some frustration, not least from Barcelona based newspaper Mundo Deportivo. Xavier Munoz has written a small column pondering why the defender wasn’t recommended to top clubs when he was at Celtic.
Despite having ‘vast’ sections of scouts, Munoz doesn’t believe Europe’s premier clubs were on his trail, and it’s clear he blames those talent spotters for not noticing the player soon enough.
Munoz brings up the example of Carles Puyol and Louis van Gaal. One day, whilst manager at Barcelona, Van Gaal spotted Puyol, presumably with the youth side.
He ‘got the player off the plane that was going to take him to Malaga’ and prevented a transfer, believing that regardless of the defender not being so skilful, he could still contribute a lot to the senior team.
Despite working with the now club legend for years, nobody else had spotted it in Puyol.
Munoz clearly believes the endless number of scouts in European football need to up their games.
