A former West Bromwich Albion scout quit after the club ignored his repeated pleas to sign £75million centre-back Virgil van Dijk during his time at Celtic.
As reported by the Scottish Sun, ex-Baggies scout Stuart Millar left the club after Tony Pulis and the club decided against signing the 27-year-old during his time at Parkhead.
Millar scouted the Netherlands international 20 times and told the Baggies that they would double their money within two years if they signed the 6ft 4in colossus [Transfermarkt], who broke the world-record fee for a defender this year.
“I knew after 20 minutes that he was good enough to play in the English Premier League. I recommended him to Tony Pulis and said, ‘We must sign him’. I put on the report, ‘If we sign Van Dijk we’ll double our money in two years’. I got that wrong because it was about ten times the value they got back.
“Unfortunately West Brom didn’t pursue that, which was frustrating on my part and ultimately why I left West Brom — because I was certain I was recommending a player who was top notch. I think it should be an embarrassment to every other club that watched him and didn’t pursue him.”
OPINION
This must be pretty depressing reading for West Brom fans. Van Dijk has gone on to become the world’s most-expensive defender since his days at Celtic, with a £12million move to Southampton followed by that £75million switch to Liverpool in January this year. He is now widely considered to be among the best defenders in the world, and the transformation that he has brought about for the Reds has been nothing short of astounding. Jurgen Klopp’s men look so solid at the back after years of problems in that area, and you have to give van Dijk much of the credit for that. Should West Brom have signed him from the Hoops all those years ago then there is no doubt that they would have made a lot of money on him, and also would have got a good season or two of him dominating at the back. This is yet another thing which sours Pulis’ reign at the Baggies – how fans will be wishing he had listened to Millar.