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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Ian Doyle

Virgil van Dijk and the day Liverpool defender told striker not to bother

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is, by common consensus, rather good at football.

If the naked eye can't determine his standing, there's always the fact he is the current PFA Player of the Year and was runner-up in December's Ballon d'Or behind some bloke called Lionel Messi.

Then there's his integral part in a Reds team that are the current European and world champions and 22 points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Confidence, rather than arrogance, is a key reason behind Van Dijk's success.

 

 

And if former St Johnstone striker Graham Cummins is to believed, the Reds centre-back has for some time been aware of his own potential.

Cummins, now with Waterford in the League of Ireland, was recalling his time in Scotland while talking on the Irish Examiner soccer podcast.

He came up against Van Dijk in what would prove the Dutchman's final game for Celtic before completing a £13million move to Southampton in September 2015.

St Johnstone lost 3-1 at Parkhead, but there was one incident in particular that stuck in the mind of Cummins.

Blood Red: Virgil Van Dijk walks like a BOSS at Anfield

“He left the day after we played against them. That’s my claim to fame, that’s what pushed the Southampton deal over the line, that he marked me,” Cummins laughed.

“We were told in the dressing room, stop him, rather than him stopping you. Get behind the ball when he gets it, because he’ll run the pitch no bother.

“The first ball, I tried to sprint with him and he just boshed me out of it.

"I was out of breath and blowing out of backside and he just turned to me and said ‘I wouldn't even bother, I’m just too good'."

Oh Virgil, you tease you.

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