Virgil van Dijk advised former Southampton team-mate Charlie Austin that Manchester United selected Victor Lindelof over him in the summertime of 2017.
Virgil van Dijk was a goal for Manchester United (Picture: Getty Photos)
For Liverpool, there is no such thing as a larger satisfaction than triumphing over Manchester United. All through the final decade, the momentum in English soccer’s most legendary rivalry has swung decisively in favour of Anfield, largely due to the imposing determine of Virgil van Dijk. The Netherlands worldwide joined from Southampton in January 2018 for a club-record £75million – then a world-record sum for a defender – and subsequently revolutionised Liverpool’s defence. But astonishingly, he got here perilously near signing for Outdated Trafford mere months beforehand.
In response to former Southampton colleague Charlie Austin, Van Dijk was in severe discussions with United through the summer season of 2017. Nevertheless, the membership ultimately opted for Victor Lindelof as a substitute, a selection that allowed Liverpool to swoop in. “I bear in mind on the again finish of his Southampton profession, we had been sitting on the bench collectively at Chelsea away,” Austin advised talkSPORT in 2022.
“I mentioned to him, ‘Come on Virgil, what is going on on, absolutely Manchester United will need to have been in for you? They seem to be a large membership in England.'”.
“He mentioned, ‘Have you learnt what Chaz, in the summertime it was between me and Lindelof – and so they went for Lindelof.’ No person is aware of that. He advised me on the bench and I could not consider it. I used to be gobsmacked.”
The choice has returned to plague United in methods they may hardly have foreseen. Van Dijk has not solely flourished on Merseyside, however is now thought-about amongst the best defenders of his period – probably of any period.
Lindelof, in stark distinction, by no means fairly fulfilled his promise throughout his eight years at Outdated Trafford. While the Swedish defender featured often within the beginning XI, he could not match the commanding presence, reliability and defensive solidity that Van Dijk has persistently supplied for Liverpool.
Clearly regretting their selection to not take a punt on Van Dijk, United subsequently broke the world document price for a defender once they introduced in Harry Maguire from Leicester Metropolis in 2019. But Maguire did valuable little to ease the ache of that earlier misjudgement.
His performances swung dramatically between stable and shambolic, and he swiftly earned a fame as one of many high flight’s costliest failures.
Although nonetheless on the membership, the England centre-back has since discovered some stability and partially restored his tarnished standing, but he is by no means approached changing into the defensive lynchpin United believed they had been buying.
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Van Dijk, conversely, has cemented his standing as considered one of Liverpool’s all-time greats. He was instrumental within the membership’s 2018/19 Champions League and 2019/20 Premier League victories and have become solely the third defender ever to say the PFA Participant of the 12 months award in 2019.
The participant additionally secured second place within the 2019 Ballon d’Or and has amassed greater than 300 appearances for the membership. Following Jordan Henderson’s departure in 2023, he was handed the captain’s armband.
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