MICAH RICHARDS says he can’t believe Manchester City didn’t take a punt on Virgil van Dijk while he was still at Celtic and proclaimed the defender has everything.
Micah has become a popular pundit since hanging up his boots in English football but we can’t help but feel there’s a bit of revisionism going on here.
The EPL looks down its nose at the SPFL at every opportunity. Celtic fans were very aware of how good Virgil was and were very surprised when only Southampton showed real interest in the centre-back.
Talking about things now, Micah thinks City should have gone straight to the source and acquired the Dutchman from Parkhead,
“He could be the greatest ever, maybe it’s getting a bit late now in terms of age and he’s had his injury but he had an instant impact – there’s no question marks over him, he can do everything.” Micah told Match of the Day Ten Podcast.
“I can’t believe when he was at Celtic that Manchester City didn’t take a little punt on him.”
Virgil van Dijk ended up at Liverpool in the end and has won the league title as well as the Champions League.
Not even Brendan Rodgers took a punt on Virgil while at Celtic. Liverpool manager at the time, Rodgers passed on the big defender and Southampton had a clear path to sign the former Celtic star.
Hindsight is a great thing, had there not been so much snobbery in the EPL, one of the top competing sides could have landed a bargain.
Instead, Liverpool paid an astronomical amount to land Van Dijk.
Arsenal woke up to the fact we have good players playing in Scotland when they signed Kieran Tierney for £25m two seasons ago. He’s easily one of their best players now.
