Virgil van Dijk shares fantastic reason he joined Celtic

Virgil van Dijk is arguably the best centre-back of his generation and one of the biggest reasons behind the renaissance Liverpool have enjoyed in recent years. The captain of Jurgen Klopp's side, the Dutchman is busy winning trophies or being named in all-time Premier League XIs these days. He was not always so highly-rated though.

In fact, Van Dijk was almost 20 years of age by the time he made his professional debut for FC Groningen. He did impress there but not enough to convince one of the top Eredivisie clubs to take a chance on him.

So, Van Dijk did not follow the traditional route. Instead, he ended up joining Celtic in 2013. The rest as they say is history.

Van Dijk has now shed some light on how and why the move to Celtic came about, believing it was all meant to be. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the Liverpool and Dutch national team captain said:

"When you play for Groningen as a young boy, a step to the top of the Dutch league is logical - it’s the traditional route.

“But the top three clubs, Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV, were not convinced of my qualities.

“So it was Celtic for me. That was the club that did dare to take me on.

“And that meant that I had to make a move that may have raised a few question marks.

“Later, Koeman picked me up from Celtic when he became coach of Southampton.

“Then, not long after that Liverpool signed up.

“It was all meant to be. Everything happens for a reason."

Virgil van Dijk shares fantastic reason he joined Celtic

It would safe to say that the move to Celtic was the best thing that could have happened for Van Dijk at that stage of his career. He was head and shoulders above most in the Premiership and got to show his quality at the Champions League level against teams like Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax and against Inter Milan in the UEFA Europa League.

That experience must have served him well as he made the move to Southampton and then eventually to Liverpool. There he has established himself as an all-time great, winning everything possible and even coming close to the Ballon d'Or on one occasion.

Celtic fans certainly have great memories of Van Dijk's time playing for the club. It was certainly meant to be for the Dutchman as well as the Hoops.