Van will be driven to be the top dog in clash of Titans
NEIL LENNON was the man who brought Virgil van Dijk to Celtic.
He also got a glimpse of the talents of Erling Haaland when the Norwegian was an 18-year-old playing for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Molde.
So when the Irishman bills the meeting of Liverpool’s immovable object and Manchester City’s unstoppable force as a “clash of the Titans” he is not kidding.
“Virgil will really look forward to it,” said Lennon (below), who was Celtic manager when the Glasgow giants signed the Dutchman from Groningen for £2.6million in 2013. “The big man will want to prove he’s the top dog.
“But I’ve seen Haaland too. I managed Hibs when we played Molde in the Europa League. He was only 18 and I thought, ‘Wow!’
“The deal was already done for him to go to Salzburg a few months later, but I kept following him.
“Liverpool v City will be the clash of the Titans – and I don’t know who will come out on top.
“Virgil has that cold confidence about him, but then again so does Haaland. It’s going to be fascinating.”
Lennon alerted other clubs to Van Dijk’s potential when Celtic had a £12m bid from Southampton accepted after two years in Scotland.
His recommendation fell on deaf ears – and when he joined Liverpool in January 2018, his price reached £75m.
Lennon, now coach of Omonoia, the Cypriot club beaten by an injury-time Scott Mctominay goal for Manchester United in the Europa League on
Thursday night, recalled: “Before Virgil went to Southampton I went to a couple of big clubs and asked them, ‘What are you waiting for?’ They said they weren’t sure, I said fine. He went to Southampton and the rest is history.
“The first time I saw him live I kept looking around to see if there were other scouts around.
“This kid was a Rio Ferdinand – and has kicked on.
“When I was watching him on video I thought he must have a glass eye or something because he had no weaknesses.
“I thought he’d end up playing at Barcelona or Real Madrid.”
Van Dijk (right) has suffered a dip in form this season that has been mirrored by Liverpool’s inconsistency. But Lennon added: “Virgil can go through the gears when he really wants to.
“He has been a bit off for his levels this season from what I’ve seen, but when he really wants to he can turn on the burners.
“Virgil is one of the best defenders in the world so if he gets a bit of criticism he’ll come back for more.
“He’s a physical specimen – and so is Haaland – so it’s going to be really fascinating to watch. Virgil will fancy it. He will go, ‘Right, come on, let’s see what you got’.
“Virgil is still the boss at Liverpool, he’s the king of the backline.”