1 year ago
229 Virgil van Dijk has been regarded as one of the very best players in the world for half a decade now, so it’s hard to imagine him playing for one of the Premier League’s smaller clubs.
However, there was a time when Van Dijk was on these mid-table sides’ radars. Ultimately, he ended up at Southampton, but, once upon a time, he could’ve joined West Bromwich Albion.
Indeed, according to Tony Pulis, speaking on the Baggies Broadcast Podcast, West Brom had a real look at Van Dijk during his time at the club, but, ultimately, the Dutchman proved to be too expensive at the time.
Van Dijk to West Brom
Pulis spoke about how he almost signed the £75m Liverpool star for the Baggies.
“Yeah, we watched him. Jonathan Gould had played at Celtic, and Gouldy mentioned him on numerous occasions. That was on the scouting network, but whether we thought he’d be too much or too expensive I’m not sure. He was definitely one that was brought up,” Pulis said.
Transformative
West Brom had a real torrid time of it towards the end of the Pulis era and beyond, but we can’t help but think that would’ve been avoided if Van Dijk was at the Hawthorns at this time.
As we all know, the former Southampton man is a truly remarkable player, and it’s hard to imagine how any club could be relegated with the colossal Dutch captain at the heart of their backline.
Sadly, West Brom were never able to get this deal done, but the Baggies’ loss was the Saints gain as they managed to sign a brilliant player and sell him for a huge profit a few years later.
The post ‘We watched him’: Tony Pulis says he nearly signed £75m Liverpool player for West Brom appeared first on The Boot Room.
