Former Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock reveals that he had the opportunity to sign Virgil van Dijk from Celtic for just £3m, but the transfer did not happen due to concerns about the player's speed.
The former Aberdeen boss says he was keen to sign the Liverpool powerhouse while he was in charge of Crystal Palace and the Dutchman was still in Glasgow.And considering Celtic paid £2.6m for the big central defender from Groningen, it does seem unlikely that Celtic would've let him go for just £3m.
But Warnock insists there was a possibility of a transfer, however, his chairman at Palace felt Van Dijk wasn't quick enough, based on the data the club had available to them. Speaking on a recent radio show, the 75-year-old was asked if there was a player he wanted to sign, but didn't, and was proven right."Absolutely," he responded with a big grin on his face. "Crystal Palace, right, Steve Parish, the chairman, everything was data-based. And we don't sign players unless they are this, that and the other. We had a scout in Scotland tell us about a player, a good player, I won't tell you his name yet, a good player.
"We were looking for a centre half, I sent Ronnie Jepsen up to watch him, He played all right and Ronnie said 'he'll do for us, gaffer', so I told the chairman he's going to cost £3m, but he's a good player, good on the ball. I just thought it would be a formality. So the chairman said to me 'we don't think he's quick enough this player'.
"I said 'what do you mean he's not quick enough? He said it doesn't look like he can sprint. I said 'chairman, in all due respect, he doesn't have to sprint, he reads the game that well, he's always in front of everybody. That's ridiculous. But he said:"That's on the data, or whatever you call it. We didn't sign him and this lad was called Van Dijk.
Neil Warnock Virgil Van Dijk Celtic Crystal Palace Transfer Speed
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