Speaking on The Celtic View Podcast, Stefan Johansen has been discussing Virgil van Dijk and what it was like to play alongside the Dutchman up in Scotland.
Of course, these days, Van Dijk is known as one of the greatest centre-backs of all-time due to his exploits with Liverpool in recent years, and according to Johanesen, the defender’s talents were obvious from very early on.
Johansen played with Van Dijk at Celtic early in his career, and he says that even back then you could see that this player had the capabilities to be one of the best in the world.
Van Dijk’s talent was obvious
Johansen spoke about playing alongside the Dutchman for Celtic and if he knew how good he could be.
“Yeah I think everyone could see it. As a player he was unbelievable. Even back then obviously he has progressed, but he was a top player then, it was just a matter of time before he was one of the best in the world I think. He has worked hard for it, but the talent has been there. I think everyone would agree we saw that quite early with him,” Johansen said.
Surpassed all expectations
Johansen may have known that Van Dijk had what it took to make it to a high level, but surely nobody saw this coming.
Make no mistake about it, Van Dijk will go down as one of the best defenders in the history of this sport, and that is truly remarkable for a player who was playing for Southampton at the age of 27.
Van Dijk has surpassed almost every expectation everyone had of him.
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