World’s most expensive defender Virgil van Dijk was told to forget a career in football and focus on scrubbing pots
VIRGIL VAN DIJK is not known for doing the dirty work.
But 10 years ago, Liverpool’s £75million man and PFA Player of the Year was a pot washer earning £3-an-hour at a restaurant in Breda.
Van Dijk, then 17, worked in the second floor kitchen of Oncle Jean, an established eatery in a well-heeled corner of his home town in Holland.
The defender, born to a Suriname mother and Dutch father, was at Willem II and would cycle to Oncle Jean for a shift in between school and training.
A decade on and Van Dijk, who won the BBC’s Player of the Year by a mammoth amount, is leading Liverpool’s charge against Man City in the Premier League title race.
He is aiming to end Anfield’s 29-year wait for a league crown, but it could have been marigolds instead of silverware for Van Dijk.
Jacques Lips, owner of the restaurant, used to tell the youngster to forget his dream of becoming a professional footballer and focus on scrubbing pots.
So when Van Dijk became the most expensive defender in history after moving to Anfield from Southampton in January last year, Lips was gobsmacked.
“‘Stay here, Virgil,’ I used to say,” Lips told the Daily Mirror. “‘Here you have the opportunity at least to earn a few quid’. He has absolutely made it and I hold my hands up.
“He was a good worker. He would scrub hard and do his job properly. He was always here on the two busiest nights of the week.
“He was training hard to try and become a professional and had joined the academy of neighbours Willem II.”
Van Dijk’s wages would go on McDonalds feasts for him and his friends.
But after signing for FC Groningen the 6ft4in defender spent his Euros on driving lessons so he could ditch the bike for his commute.
There is embarrassment around Willem II when Van Dijk’s name is mentioned, though, due to the ease with which he left for Groningen at the age of 18.
Former Man City midfielder Fons Groenendijk, now head coach of Den Haag, took over at Willem II in February 2009.
MISSING VIRGIL
Groenendijk, 54, told the Daily Telegraph: “Virgil was in the U-19s, just turning 17 when I took over at Willem II (February 2009) and we were in relegation trouble and you know what kind of football that is.
“Virgil was an ‘A-junior’ and I had never seen him play. In fact, I didn’t even know who he was.
“At some stage, I heard that there were a couple of talented boys in the U-19s but it is not anyone’s notion of a good idea to bring kids into a relegation battle.”
But it wasn’t only Willem II and Groenendijk who failed to see the youngster’s potential.
Top clubs Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord decided Van Dijk didn’t fit their mould. He was too casual on the ball for their liking.
Ten years on and no player in the Premier League has dribbled past him this season.
As revealed by SunSport earlier this month, Van Dijk was struck down by poisonous abscesses in his stomach while at Groningen.
He lost two stone, was fed on drips and there were fears for his life.
Robert Maaskant, then Groningen boss, told SunSport: “Virgil’s mother took him to the hospital — she could not wait any longer or he might not have been there any more.
“He was hospitalised and it made him very weak when he came back. It slowed him down for almost half a season.
“But we put him on an individual programme, took it quite easy on him in pre-season and when he started playing he showed his value right away.”
In 2013, just six years ago, Celtic’s head of recruitment John Park was scouting Swansea’s Mike van der Hoorn during the defender’s days at Utrecht.
But it was the opposition’s centre-back who caught his eye.
“Virgil was confident,” Park told the Telegraph. “You could see him thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to try this but if it doesn’t work I am getting the next one’.
“He would go off-the-cuff and try things that were difficult. There’s no question about him, he’s a Rolls-Royce, and sometimes you get a banger.”
Park’s move paid off with Van Dijk’s rapid rise through British football. He’s still cleaning up.
