By Sean Walsh
Former Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock has claimed he nearly signed Virgil van Dijk for £3m during his time at Selhurst Park, but the club's 'stats man' vetoed a deal on the grounds of his quickness.
Van Dijk made his way to British shores from his native Netherlands in 2013 when he left Groningen for Celtic. In two years in Glasgow, he announced himself as one of Europe's best defenders playing outside of the top five leagues.
Southampton brought in the Dutchman for £13m in the summer of 2015 and ended up shifting him for huge profit, selling the centre-back to Liverpool midway through the 2017/18 season for £75m.
But Warnock has explained that if he had his way, Palace would have signed Van Dijk during the 2014/15 campaign during his short-lived return to the south London dugout.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast with fellow ex-Palace boss Sam Allardyce, Warnock revealed how close he came to bringing in the Dutchman and why the club backed away from a transfer.
When asked if it was true that he nearly signed Van Dijk for £3m, Warnock replied: "Yes. He was at Celtic, I was at Palace, I sent [a scout] up to watch him at Celtic and he came back and said, 'he'll do for us'.
"I said to [Palace chairman] Steve Parish, who's their now, and the stats man that I want to sign Van Dijk for £3m. Parish, as with all of the other chairmen, rely on the stats man and he was saying 'we don't think he's quick enough for the Premier League'.
"I told them why he doesn't look quick, because he reads the game that well that he doesn’t have to break a sweat! I said that if he was pushed in the Premier League, he'd sprint.
"We didn't sign him and Southampton signed him and ended up getting 70-odd million for him when Liverpool signed him.
"I remember when we played Liverpool next, Van Dijk came up to me on the pitch and said, 'you nearly signed me!' - he knew all about it. I said to him, 'they said you weren't quick, you're not really quick, are you?' - and then I ran away from him!"
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as Why Virgil van Dijk's proposed move to Crystal Palace collapsed.
