Liverpool signed Virgil van Dijk in 2018 and he has turned out to be one of the greatest signings in football history.
That may sound hyperbolic.
But if you compare Liverpool’s progress in the last five years against Manchester United’s in the same period, it’s clear to see the difference he made.
Th Red Devils could have signed him but they didn’t.
Since then, Liverpool have won every trophy available once while United haven’t won a trophy since 2016.
How Manchester United refused van Dijk signing
Jose Mourinho was at the time and in the summer of 2017, United had the chance to sign van Dijk but instead signed Victor Lindelof from Benfica.
The Swede is a decent defender but is nowhere near the level of van Dijk.
Former Premier League striker Charlie Austin, who now plays for Swindon Town, revealed van Dijk told him how United passed up the opportunity to sign him.
“I remember the back end of his Southampton career we were on the bench together at Chelsea away,” Austin said in 2021.
“I sat there and I said, ‘Come on Virgil, what’s going on, surely Man United must’ve been in for you? Massive club in England, etc’. He said, ‘You know what Chaz, in the summer it was like between me or Lindelof and they signed Lindelof’.
“I was like, ‘You are joking!’ Nobody knows that, he told me that on the bench. I couldn’t believe it, I was just as gobsmacked as you. Obviously there was talk in the summer he was going to go there then they’ve gone and taken Lindelof instead.”
Ultimately, it may have cost Mourinho his job after he was fired following a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool almost a year later. It came after Manchester United’s worst start to a Premier League campaign for 28 years.
However, suggestions Mourinho didn’t want him are far from the truth.
Former Sky Sports pundit, Chris Kamara, shared a conversation he had with Mourinho.
He said: “I can exclusively reveal that I told Jose to take him to Manchester United.
“Jose said: ‘These lot won’t give me the money for him.’ Yeah, and he went to Liverpool.”
So, I guess we have United’s pathetic ownership and recruitment personnel for allowing the £240,000/week defender to join their greatest rivals.
Liverpool thank Manchester United for their incredible oversight
In my opinion, there has never been a more influential Liverpool signing than Virgil van Dijk.
That’s quite the claim as his biggest rival for this grand title is his teammate: Mohamed Salah.
The only reason I rank van Dijk higher is that Salah was already at the club when van Dijk joined but after the Dutchman moved to Anfield, the trajectory of the team skyrocketed.
By the end of his first half-season, Liverpool reached the final of the Champions League.
The following season, they racked up 96 Premier League points, agonisingly finishing one point behind eventual champions Manchester City.
However, that pain was erased by with a win over Spurs in the historic Champions League final of 2019. That triumph took Liverpool to its sixth European Cup title.
Few players in history have transformed a team the way van Dijk did after his January move to Anfield.
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