Liverpool’s Van Dijk says he advised Celtic to re-sign Robertson

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Celtic had both Liverpool defenders Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson on their books in the past.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been quoted as saying by The Liverpool Echo that he advised Celtic to re-sign Andrew Robertson when he was at the Scottish club.

Van Dijk was on the books of Celtic from the summer of 2013 until the summer of 2015 when he moved to Premier League side Southampton.

Robertson was released by the Hoops when the Scotland international defender was a teenager, with the left-back subsequently playing for Queen’s Park, Dundee United and Hull City before switching to Liverpool in the summer of 2017 for an initial transfer fee reported by BBC Sport to be worth £8 million.

Van Dijk, who earns £180,000 per week as salary at Liverpool according to The Daily Star, has revealed that he advised Celtic to re-sign Robertson.

The Liverpool Echo quotes Van Dijk as saying about Robertson: “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.”

Major mistake

Robertson has proved Celtic wrong, and the youngster is now one of the best left-backs in the Premier League.

The Scotland international’s performances in the Premier League and in the Champions League this past season were very encouraging, and they only underline just how big a mistake Celtic made when they released him.