If Manchester United had signed Virgil van Dijk instead of Liverpool, who passed up the opportunity to acquire the defender, Premier League history would have been drastically different.
One of Manchester United’s worst-ever transfer errors was exploited by Liverpool.
Under the Glazers, United has missed out on other targets and wasted enormous sums of money on players who have turned out to be busts. The most obvious mistake was not signing a player who would go on to become a legend at Anfield.
Virgil van Dijk of Southampton was attracting interest from a number of teams in 2017—among them Man United. Nevertheless, the Red Devils choose Benfica’s Victor Lindelof instead signing the Dutchman.
Naturally, Liverpool paid £75 million to acquire Van Dijk in January 2018, while United later paid £80 million to acquire Leicester’s much-maligned Harry Maguire.
Charlie Austin, a former teammate of Van Dijk at Southampton, made the discovery, telling talkSPORT back in 2021: “I recall sitting on the bench with him at Chelsea away towards the conclusion of his Southampton tenure.
“Come on, Virgil, what’s going on, surely Man United must have been in for you?” I asked as I sat there. enormous English club, etc. You know what, Chaz, it was like me or Lindelof in the summer, and they signed Lindelof.
After expressing his surprise, Austin said, “I was like, ‘You are joking!'” He informed me on the bench that nobody is aware of that. Like you, I was in complete shock and couldn’t believe it. Evidently, there had been discussions during the summer about his visit, but they ended up taking Lindelof instead.”
As they say, the rest is history. Under Jurgen Klopp, the towering center back was essential to Liverpool’s Champions League and Premier League triumphs.
While Lindelof still has one year left on his contract with United, he has not always been a regular starter for the team and may be leaving this summer. Jose Mourinho, the manager of Fenerbahce, is reportedly interested in signing the Swedish player.
Austin also revealed the details of Van Dijk’s stressful last few days at Southampton prior to his transfer to Liverpool. He remembered: “Mauricio Pellegrino, the manager at the time, was looking to leave in the summer.”
“He got us all gathered around the field during preseason, including Virg, and then he just came out and said, ‘Look lads, Virgil wants to go, the club is not allowing him to go, he’s said he’s not going to play so he’s not going to train with us,'” recalls me. in full view of all, including Virgil.
“He was even more shocked that the management had given him no warning at all. You are going to train with the physiotherapist and the fitness coach over there. Even though Virg moved in the summer, it was more along the lines of asserting his authority and doing what he had to when the transfer window closed two days later and Virg started on Saturday.
“Virg, we understand, you were linked with Liverpool, you wanted to go, it’s fine by us,” the boys said in response to his apology, “but we were happy he was still there because of the quality he brought.” When asked if Austin would have chosen Man United, he replied, “I’m not sure, I think he had his heart set on going to Liverpool.”
