Liverpool skipper Virgil Van Dijk had opened up about the transfer mistake of Manchester United to his former Southampton teammate Charlie Austin.
Virgil Van Dijk has been one of the greatest signings of the Merseysiders in recent history. The current Reds and Dutch international captain has been one of the key members of the team in winning many titles.
The Anfield giants secured the 32-year-old for £75M from Southampton in January of 2018. And since then, he has made 233 appearances scoring 19 goals and assisting 14 times across all competitions for the team in red (stats via Transfermarkt).
But this could have been very different as Manchester United were a strong contender to sign the Dutchman. But the Red Devils went on to sign Swedish defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica.
Liverpool skipper Van Dijk on Manchester United not signing him
Virgil had spoken about the reason why the Old Trafford side did not sign him to his former teammate Charlie Austin. In an interview in 2021, Austin said,
“I remember the back end of his Southampton career we were on the bench together at Chelsea away. I sat there I said, ‘come on Virgil, what’s going on, surely Man United must’ve been in for you? Massive club in England, etc’.
He said, ‘you know what Chaz, in the summer it was like between me or Lindelof and they signed Lindelof’.”
While speaking about the last few days of the Dutch international at Southampton, he said,
“The manager was there, Pellegrino at the time, and in the summer he was looking to go. I remember him getting everybody in pre-season, got us all around, everyone on the pitch including Virg and just came out and said, ‘look lads, Virgil wants to go, the club are not allowing him to go, he’s said he’s not going to play so he’s not going to train with us’. In front of everybody, including Virgil.
He was more gobsmacked because [there was] no heads up from the manager, nothing. You’re going to go over there and train with the fitness coach and the physio. It was more down the line of stamping his authority, what he had to do, albeit he did move in the summer, two days later the transfer window shut and Virg was starting on the Saturday.
He apologised to the lads but the lads were just like, ‘Virg, we understand, you were linked with Liverpool, you wanted to go, it’s fine by us’, but we were happy he was still there because of the quality he brought.”
Van Dijk now must be thanking Destiny every day for Manchester United not signing him. The bitter rivals of LFC are currently facing one of the worst start to the season in 34 years.
United later on signed Harry Maguire for £80M two years later and are still regretting that decision till date. And on the other hand, Virgil Van Dijk is already a Liverpool icon and a future legend.
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