Virgil van Dijk has revealed he told Celtic to sign Andy Robertson while he was at Dundee United.
The pair are now teammates at Liverpool, but it wasn’t long ago that they were opponents in the Scottish Premiership.
Back in the 2013/14 season, both were just settling into new surroundings in Scottish football.
Van Dijk was a £2.6million signing for Celtic from Groningen, while Robertson had just moved from Queen’s Park to Dundee United in a move which raised few eyebrows.
But they both stood out straight away in the Premiership, kickstarting their career paths towards being teammates at Anfield.
And while reflecting on a memorable season together at the club, van Dijk told how he actually could have been Robertson’s teammate sooner had Celtic scouts listened to his recommendation.
Speaking per liverpoolfc.com, van Dijk said: “Robbo is doing fantastic. Obviously when I came to Celtic, in my first season he played at Dundee United and I already thought he’s a very good player and I thought at that time he should join Celtic!
“I think I said it to one of the scouting guys as well – sometimes I like to give my opinion on players. He’s just a great player, [he] works hard. If you need ratings of a game, I don’t think he’d ever go lower than a six.
“You can trust him and the connection I have with him is getting better every game. He knows obviously what he has in me, and I get it the other way around as well. He’s a good guy as well and that obviously helps too.”
Celtic fans won’t be too down hearing that considering they have Kieran Tierney, who is arguably just as good if not better than Robertson.
But it’s interesting to read that van Dijk was a fan of Robertson well before they eventually became teammates in Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
RSS