Dubai: Virgil van Dijk’s £75 million (Dh372 million) move from Southampton to Liverpool last week is great advert for Scottish football according to Celtic captain Scott Brown who used to play alongside the Dutchman in Glasgow.
The newly crowned world’s most expensive defender was bought from Dutch side Groningen for just £2.6 million by Celtic back in 2013 and then sold onto Southampton for £13 million in 2015.
He went on to score the winner on his Liverpool debut against Everton in the FA Cup third round last Saturday playing alongside another former Scottish Premiership player at the back in Andrew Robertson. Robertson started as a youth at Celtic and went on to play for Queen’s Park and Dundee United before joining Hull in 2014 and Liverpool last year.
Brown, who is in Dubai with Celtic on a winter training camp this week — training at Al Wasl and staying at Le Royal Meridien in JBR — told Gulf News the above examples put Scottish football in the light it deserved, despite long being looked down upon south of the border.
“You’ve got Victor Wanyama who went to Premier League and tore it up as well,” Brown said of the Kenyan former Celtic midfielder who joined Celtic for £900,000 from Belgian side Beerschot in 2011, then left for Southampton for £12.5 million in 2013 before moving to Tottenham for £11 million in 2016.
“Our scouting system; for people to find Victor and Virgil, who we spent four million on between them and who went for 100 million between them. It’s great to see that and good for us to get some money back on those deals as well.
“We knew as soon as Virgil left here that he was going on to top quality things. He’s probably one of the best defenders in the world and we were lucky enough to play alongside him.
“Liverpool play very open high pressing [football] and leave their two centre halves very vulnerable at the back and you’ve got to be brave against top quality players when playing in England as well, and Virgil has that bravery.
“He’s got strength, is incredible in one-on-one situations and that’s the way Liverpool play, he’s also aggressive in the air and top quality on the ball as well. He’s got pretty much everything.
“He loves winning, that’s why he came to Celtic and he enjoyed winning trophies there,” Brown added of his former teammate, who picked up two league titles and a league Cup while in Scotland. “But he wanted to go down south and show what he could do. He’s done that really well since he’s gone down there and deserves every plaudit he receives.
“£75 million is a lot of money, fair play to him, it’s the way the market is going and you’ve got to spend what people value you at, and that’s what his valuation is, and Liverpool wanted him, so fair play. I think he’ll do fantastic for them and push them on even more so.”
Asked if more English players would come up to Scotland as a result of the quality its league is producing, Brown replied: “Scott Sinclair has been down there [England] and he loves it up here [Scotland]. It’s great for people who have been down there to come up here and see what it’s like. Scotty doesn’t want to leave, he’s enjoying his football and winning trophies,” he added of the English former Chelsea and Manchester City winger.
“He was down there five or six years [actually 12] and had not won and he came here and started winning trophies and playing Champions League.
“It especially helps [to attract players] when you have a top quality manager, play attractive football, and bring the fans back to Celtic Park. We’ve managed that but now it’s about how far we can push in Europe and the league.”
