Some Celtic fans were feeling nostalgic about former Hoops defender Virgil van Dijk and are proud that their club gave him the platform to succeed at other clubs.
Van Dijk, who won the UEFA Player of the Year award earlier this year, helped Liverpool win the UEFA Champions League last season by beating English rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the competition.
This season, the Dutchman has played 12 times in the Premier League. He has scored once and has also played all four of the club’s games in the UEFA Champions League.
Some Celtic fans are gushing over the fact their former player is achieving great things at a European level.
@VirgilvDijk could’ve been the bargain of the century if the so called big teams had faith in him whilst at Celtic. Went on and proved how good we all knew he was,won the champs league and is 1 league title from being immortal in liverpool. All the best big fella.
— SeanPaterson1888 (@SPaterson1888) November 12, 2019
Once a celt always a celt
— John White (@L7IG) November 12, 2019
@ross_law1 made in Glasgow by Celtic lad
— Bobby (@BobbyBhoy67) November 12, 2019
Big Virgil, absolute baller
— Aaron Boyd (@aboyd1888) November 12, 2019
Van Dijk left Celtic in the summer of 2015 for a fee of £13million to join English side Southampton. He left the Saints in the winter of 2018 to join Liverpool for a fee of £75million – which was then a world-record fee for a defender.
For the Saints, the Dutchman had played 80 times in all competitions for the club and also scored seven times for them. Since joining Liverpool, Van Dijk has played as many as 90 minutes for the Reds, finding the back of the net nine times.
He joined Celtic in the summer of 2013 from Dutch side Groningen for a fee of £2.6million.
Some fans are also nostalgic about the defender and want him back in Scotland.
Fancy running yer contract down and coming back big man….
— Scott Alcroft (@ScottAlcroft) November 12, 2019
Get him back. He would make w decent deputy for Julien or Ajer
— Huell Babineux ?? (@HBabineux) November 12, 2019
@peter_butler_ @JaackDeee bring him home
— Liam Drohan (@DrohanCeltic) November 12, 2019
What do we think?
It is fair to say that playing at Celtic gave Van Dijk the platform to make a name for himself in the British game. The fact that he played as many as 115 times in all competitions for the Hoops’ first-team shows exactly that.
He also won three Scottish Premiership titles in the Glasgow side and that gave him the experience of winning trophies – something he will look to make use of at Anfield.