Before Brendan Rodgers was in charge at Celtic, Virgil van Dijk came through the Scottish Premiership side for two seasons.
The Dutch defender was signed from FC Groningen for €2.75m, and impressed so much that he quickly went to Southampton for more than five times that.
That led to his €85m move to Liverpool in 2018, where he has been ever since, but it was Celtic who gave him a chance outside of the Netherlands for the first time, and he revealed he will always be grateful for that in an interview with Voetbal International, relayed by Voetbal Primeur.
Only then will they get a chance to try something else abroad, like the Premier League, but Celtic came in at a time when none of the trio wanted to give Van Dijk a chance.
He said: “When you play as a young boy at FC Groningen, a move to the Dutch top is logical, the traditional route, but the top three were not convinced of my qualities so it became Celtic. That club did dare to take the plunge with me and that made me take a step that might have involved a few question marks.”
The centre-back immediately put those worries to rest with his performances on the pitch, and that’s why he is still fondly remembered at Celtic Park despite leaving close to nine years ago.
