Chris Sutton says Celtic should have received £20m for Virgil van Dijk

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Defender van Dijk joined Southampton from Celtic in 2015.

Chris Sutton has claimed in his Daily Mail column that Celtic made a mistake when selling Virgil van Dijk to Southampton in 2015, stating the Hoops should have charged more for the Dutchman.

After two years with Celtic following his move from FC Groningen in 2013, van Dijk joined Southampton for a fee believed to be in the region of £13million after he had picked up two Scottish Premiership medals in two seasons.

Indeed, van Dijk also won a Scottish League Cup and scored 15 goals in 115 outings for Celtic in all competitions. Now, he is arguably one of the best centre-backs in the world following his £75million move to Liverpool.

The 19-time Netherlands international has tightened a leaky Liverpool defence under Jurgen Klopp, and Sutton believes Celtic could have charged at least £20million for van Dijk’s services when they sold him to Southampton.

“This time three years ago I was criticised for arguing that Celtic should be demanding a fee of £20million for him,” Sutton said. “John Stones was the subject of a similar bid from Chelsea at the time but I thought van Dijk was just as good.

“In the end, Southampton signed him for £13m. Even then, it looked an absolute snip. That he was not snapped up sooner only highlighted the ignorance of clubs in the Premier League.”

Southampton are responsible for the Scottish Premiership’s three most expensive sales, signing 6ft 3in van Dijk as well as Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Victor Wanyama and goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Celtic currently lack a centre-back that boasts the aura and quality of a van Dijk, with the clubs reportedly interested in Aberdeen star Scott McKenna as well as van Dijk’s Netherlands teammate Jeffrey Bruma.