Liverpool’s capture of Virgil van Dijk is a lesson for Manchester United
It sums up the dysfunction at Manchester United to recall their attempt to sign Virgil van Dijk, which involved a frantic, desperate telephone call to see if he was still available. Doh! The defender had already completed his medical on Merseyside.
Such a botched move (as late and hopeless as their bid to sign Gareth Bale when he left Tottenham Hotspur for Real Madrid) encapsulates the lack of understanding between manager(s) and board, an absence of vision or even basic planning when it comes to recruitment, which is only one of many big problems to rectify at Old Trafford.
Liverpool had made all the right, persistent moves for Van Dijk and how delighted they must be with the man who, it was confirmed yesterday, is to be crowned the PFA Player of the Year. The players got that one spot on.
There is plenty to quibble about in their selections for the season’s outstanding Premier League XI — Paul Pogba chosen when his undoubted talent has been so inconsistently delivered, Eden Hazard left out despite being the most electrifying player in the division — and others will argue, understandably, for Raheem Sterling for the main prize.
The Manchester City attacker will win the Footballer of the Year, from the writers, on account not only of his superb form but also the way he has become a significant voice in the conversation around race in football. His PR has improved almost as much as his finishing.
But my vote has gone to Van Dijk and while these things tend to be a combination of factors, certainly one of the key drivers came from talking to coaches and scouts, who explained how hard it is to find a centre back of his rare quality, even if armed with the £75 million that made him the most expensive defender in the world.
For the impact of a single player on his team, Van Dijk has struck me as this campaign’s true colossus; adding such assuredness to a Liverpool defence which, in his first full season, has halved the number of league goals conceded compared with the previous two years to only 20.
Obviously the credit for that is far from his alone — Alisson, Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all enjoying distinguished seasons — but just as Bobby Moore radiated assurance among his England team-mates, Van Dijk’s composure has been contagious.
That statistic about no one dribbling past him this season in one-on-ones, which will face its toughest test against Lionel Messi next Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, is almost hard to believe, yet entirely consistent with the excellence that we have seen from him pretty much every week of the campaign. On this season’s form, Van Dijk would improve any team in the world.
That he ended up at Anfield in January of last year, after Southampton turned down a bid not far short of £75 million the previous summer, also says a lot about the big six clubs and why Liverpool under Jürgen Klopp deserve such immense credit, even if they are likely to be pipped by Manchester City to the title.
Tottenham Hotspur were never going to spend a world-record fee on a defender. Arsenal thought about it but not when the cost jumped above £50 million.
At Chelsea, Antonio Conte was very keen but the club’s hierarchy would not sanction the outlay which, not for the first or last time at Stamford Bridge, worsened the rift between manager and board.
City had Van Dijk high on their list but it was a list that also included Aymeric Laporte, who has done much to justify the £57 million fee that took him to Manchester from Athletic Bilbao, while not matching the Dutchman’s huge influence.
For Liverpool, what was key — and a vital lesson for United as they try to find a way out of their mess — was making it clear that Van Dijk was not one of many options but the man they would keep pursuing even after the frustration of being warned off by Southampton.
Just as they were willing to wait 12 months for Naby Keïta to arrive from RB Leipzig, Liverpool were buying to a very clear plan. And as the Van Dijk transfer proved, even world-record fees can quickly seem like value for money when they come off as impressively as this one.
Having a passionate salesman like Klopp also helps, setting out a vision to Van Dijk of all that he could become at Anfield. City already had titles and a modern hall of fame. Liverpool crave new legends.
That Van Dijk, 27, is fast becoming one on Merseyside would stagger many of those who saw his early years but then Ferguson did always say that you should not judge a centre half until he is 24. The position requires maturity of mind and body.
At Willem II, where Van Dijk began, they were not even sure that he was going to make it as a professional. He was a short right back until a teenage growth spurt turned him into a 6ft 4in centre back.
Still it took a while for his game to blossom. At Groningen, he did not make his first professional start until he was almost 20. He did not make his international debut until 24, left out of Holland’s 2014 World Cup squad because Louis van Gaal preferred Terence Kongolo, now at Huddersfield Town.
Van Gaal told a Dutch newspaper that Van Dijk “didn’t defend forward”, failing to press the ball, and it seemed that many other managers had reservations, given that the defender joined Celtic for only £2.7 million from Groningen in 2013.
In a parallel universe he could then have been sucked into the vortex of Sunderland’s collapse because Dick Advocaat hoped to prise away him away from Glasgow in 2015.
Instead, it was Southampton who nabbed him for £13 million and there must be scouts still wondering how they did not see more in the defender who has become such a towering presence in every respect. The phrase Van Dijk hears most often is that he is bigger than people expected though not, according to those in the know at Anfield, in the sense of ego. The slow road to the top is said to have given him appreciation for the journey.
The sight of him occasionally squeezing his big frame into a Mini for the practical purposes of parking in Liverpool city centre suggests that he is not too fussed about his image. He has a young family and a wife, who is said to keep his feet on the ground.
Now he just has to add honours. In 18 months at Anfield, he has already played in one Champions League final — not that he could do much about his goalkeeper throwing them in — while helping to turn Liverpool into their best side in several decades and making every scout wonder exactly where they will find the next best centre half.
United have the greatest need but Matthijs de Ligt, 19, is thought to be bound for Barcelona from Ajax, Toby Alderweireld, 30, has yet to decide on his future at Tottenham Hotspur while, depending on who you believe, the fee for Kalidou Koulibaly, the 27-year-old Napoli centre half, could rise above £100 million.
In this market, capturing Van Dijk looks more brilliant by the week; a tale of one footballer’s excellence but also of the disparity between Liverpool and United.
