Virgil van Dijk would have been a Manchester City player if he hadn't got sent off playing for Celtic in the Europa League, according to former Hoops boss Ronny Deila.
The Dutchman was given his marching orders in the first half of a last-32 clash with Inter Milan in February 2015, when he picked up two yellow cards in quick succession following fouls on Rodrigo Palacio and Mauro Icardi.
Following a 3-3 first leg draw at Celtic Park, Inter eventually broke down the 10 men at the San Siro thanks to a late Fredy Guarin strike to secure a 4-3 aggregate success, with Van Dijk's dismissal ultimately proving a costly one.
The centre-back would eventually move onto Southampton in September of that year, before becoming the world's most expensive defender in January 2018 when he moved to Liverpool for what now seems a bargain £75million.
Back then though, Deila says that City were very interested in Van Dijk and would have signed him if only he had proved his quality in a big European game.
"Did I get in touch with City? Yes. I said you have to take him," Deila, who is now coaching New York City FC, told Goal.com.
"They said, 'okay, tell me the best European game he has played and we will watch it'.
"I couldn't tell them what game that was because he hadn't had any real good European games. He was really dominant in Scotland but he got sent off against Inter away.
"That was a big test. I think if he had played fantastically in that game, he would have been bought.
"I think Van Dijk was good, but he didn't have that one really, really good game in Europe."
