Pat Nevin Reveals Why Both United And Chelsea Rejected The Chance To Sign Liverpool Colossus For Just £10M

Former Scotland international Pat Nevin says that Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk could have easily ended up at either Manchester United or Chelsea earlier in his career.

Speaking to Grosvenor Sport, Nevin revealed that scouts from both teams thought that the Dutch defender was prone to making errors, leading them to snub the opportunity to sign him for only £10m during his time with Scottish giants Celtic:

“When it comes to Premier League clubs being unsure over signing players from Scotland, I remember being told by Manchester United and Chelsea that Virgil van Dijk made too many mistakes – but that’s because he was bored [at Celtic].”

“Can you imagine how different things might have been if David Moyes had signed Virgil van Dijk [at United]? He ended up at Southampton and then Liverpool but teams didn’t want to pay the £10million when he was at Celtic. Big money moves from Scotland to England are rare because teams are sceptical.”

Van Dijk is a class act

When Walkon.com asked former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant about the Dutchman in an exclusive interview last year, he said that van Dijk should go down as one of the Premier League greats.

He was even bold enough to claim that the Reds captain is a better defender than former Chelsea player John Terry.

Liverpool did have to pay a bit more than £10m

Of course, United and Chelsea were not the only ones to turn down the chance to sign van Dijk when he was at Celtic.

The Netherlands international had to prove himself at Southampton first before the Reds were willing to splash the cash on him. Even so, the £75m that was shelled out was undoubtedly well spent.

During his eight seasons at Anfield, van Dijk has won the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the League Cup (twice), the Community Shield, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

Find out who is in Liverpool’s first-team squad for 2024/2025 season here

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David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.