Former Celtic midfielder and assistant boss John Collins recently appeared on an edition of the BBC’s Sportsound podcast where he shared that he thinks Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk is ‘the best player’ that he ever worked with.
Collins was Celtic’s assistant manager from June 2014 until May 2016. His time at Celtic overlapped with current Liverpool centre-back Van Dijk’s time at the club, with the Dutch international spending from July 2013 until September 2015 at Parkhead.
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Kenny McIntyre, who hosts the BBC’s Sportsound podcast, shared some comments that Van Dijk allegedly made about Collins.
McIntyre quoted Van Dijk as saying that: “I trained every single day with John Collins. We would often do extra work together. He had a drive that impressed me to get the maximum out of every player every single day.
“He knows his football and helped improve aspects of my game during the one year I worked with him. He’s an excellent coach and a fine human being.”
McIntyre then asks Collins if the Dutch centre-back is one of the best players he’s ever worked with, to which Collins replied: “Yes, I think he will be the best player I’ve ever worked with – an absolute pleasure. I hit it off straight away with Virgil. He was a great football player, I’d seen it from the first minute I worked with him.
“I’d actually seen it a year before, when I was working for television. I could tell, analysing him, he had all the attributes to be a world-class defender and I told many clubs, even before I went to Celtic, to sign him.”
Do you think that John Collins worked with anyone better than Virgil van Dijk at Parkhead?YES
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TIF Thoughts…
It appears as though there is plenty of mutual respect between Collins and Van Dijk. Considering how complimentary the Dutch defender was about Collins and his coaching ability, as well as the fact that the 28-year-old has gone from strength to strength since his time at Celtic and is now a UEFA Champions League and Premier League winner, in addition to having been the runner-up to Lionel Messi in the 2019 Ballon d’Or, it mightn’t be too surprising that Collins regards him as being the best player he’s ever worked with.