HOME SNUB MADE IT DUTCH
But the Daily Star Sunday can reveal how the Dutchman who cost Liverpool a record £75million in January 2018 was not considered good enough to make the grade by Holland’s biggest clubs.
Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven all rejected the chance to bid for Van Dijk in the summer of 2013 after Groningen had accepted a £2.6million offer from Celtic.
It was a bitter blow that was to become the making of the 6ft 4ins centre-back.
Van Dijk, 27, won successive Scottish titles in Glasgow and then spent two and a half years with Southampton before Jurgen Klopp made him football’s most expensive defender.
But his journey to the UK was as rough as a EPIC TALE: Trautmann’s story has been brought to life storm-lashed voyage across the North Sea. It started at Willem II, a small club based in Tilburg just 20 miles east of Van Dijk’s hometown of Breda.
He spent almost 10 years in Willem
II’s youth system without ever being given the financial security of a contract.
Van Dijk said: “I was a local boy, giving my heart and soul to the club.
“I was so disappointed. Obviously they did not have the same trust in me which other clubs had in me in the years that followed.
“I felt betrayed. It was as if they did not see a future in professional football for me.” It was only when Groningen registered an interest in Van Dijk that Willem II approached the player’s agent, Henk-Maarten Chin, about a deal. Even then it was a take-it-or-leave-it offer – and Van Dijk took the second option.
He had been spotted by Groningen’s chief scout Martin Koeman, father of current Holland boss Ronald. Koeman Snr’s notes describe the teenager as “a rough diamond with Eredivisie potential”.
Henk Veldmate (left) – Groningen’s former manager who is now employed as Ajax’s chief scout – said: “We had noticed Virgil was strong and athletic.
“We also saw he had a great pass and was brilliant in the air. For us it was a no-brainer. I thank God that Virgil wanted to