Arsenal turned down Virgil van Dijk transfer before Liverpool

Arsenal turned down Virgil van Dijk transfer before Liverpool move for one reason

Before being adored by Liverpool fans, Virgil van Dijk was a target for Arsenal but the North London club didn't fancy the Dutchman for one particular reason

Virgil van Dijk could have been partnering William Saliba if Arsenal decided to sign him before his Liverpool days.

Before his status as the world's best defender, the Dutchman began his journey in British football with Scottish giants Celtic in 2013. The Bhoys splashed out £2.6million for his services as he joined the club from boyhood club Groningen.

Van Dijk was under constant surveillance from various Premier League clubs during his two-year stint at Celtic Park, with Arsenal and Liverpool among his suitors.

Sky Sports is bringing you 500 live football games to watch, as well access to Cricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA and more across eight dedicated channels. Sky Sports is the only way to watch all the action this year.

While the 32-year-old eventually joined Southampton in 2015 in a £13m deal, there was a chance he could have been suiting up for the North London side instead of heading down to the south coast.

According to former Celtic assistant boss John Collins, former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was a fan of the centre-back but decided against a move after ex-chief scout, Steve Rowley, believed Van Dijk was too “nonchalant”.

“Arsenal’s chief scout thought he was too nonchalant,” Collins told beIN Sport. Maybe that was part of his game but he ticks so many of the other boxes. He’s got pace, power, balance, distribution and he’s good in the air. He can be a bit nonchalant but he is a quality player.”

Collins added that Brendan Rodgers “didn't fancy” the defender and thought his current options of Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, and Mamadou Sakho was good enough. “Gary McAllister was the assistant to Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool and I told him I hope you’re going to come and take Virgil but Brendan didn’t fancy him and didn’t think he was better than what he already had,” the former Celtics player remarked.

The Daily Star is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join us!

Through the app, we'll send you the sassiest showbiz stories, some naught headline and a seismic smattering of aliens…along with the latest breaking news of course.

To join our community, all you have to do to join is click on this link, select ‘Join Chat' and you're in!

No one will be able to see who has sign up and no one can send messages except for the Daily Star team. We also treat our community members to competitions, special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.

If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

The 55-year-old said despite the big clubs consistently watching him in action, their fear stemmed in that he was doing it in an inferior league to the Premier League. “He would’ve cost around £12m – every team watched him regularly but the worry was he was showing it against Scottish players but you could tell he was strong, powerful and a well balanced player.”

Van Dijk spent just two years at Southampton before Liverpool forked out a then-world record fee for a defender in a £75m deal where he's gone on to win the biggest trophies in football.