When the Netherlands play their nation’s first World Cup match against Senegal on Monday at 5 p.m., there is one man the Dutch trust. Virgil van Dijk has long been one of the best and most respected players in international football, and for good reason. And if the Netherlands is to succeed in the championship, the 1.93-tall and 92-kilogram stopping colossus must deliver as everyone knows he can. However, the story of Virgil van Dijk could have looked completely different. In 2012, just one year after making his first-team debut for Groningen in the Dutch top division, the then 20-year-old footballer began to feel unwell. The club’s medical team saw that he was ill, but they did not realize how serious it was. At first they thought he had contracted the flu. – The situation was serious But van Dijk did not improve. He therefore went to the local hospital for a check-up, but there too they did not find anything special that caused the warning lights to light up. Still, his pain just got worse and worse. Only when his mother Hellen came to visit did matters pick up speed. – She immediately realized that the situation was serious. She took him to another hospital, and that was absolutely crucial, says Groningen’s reserve team coach Dick Lukkien. Not everyone had faith in Virgil van Dijk, here from the period in Groningen. Photo: JANE WESSELS / ProShots On hospital visit number two, the examinations showed that he had not just one, but three illnesses. Van Dijk was diagnosed with a kidney infection, appendicitis and peritonitis. He was admitted to the spot. Suddenly it was serious. He feared that his life was in danger. – I’m not going to lie, I was quite scared. I could have died, he says of the frightening situation. Wrote a will He still remembers how much pain he felt lying in the hospital bed. – The only thing I could see were pipes and hoses dangling out of me. My body was broken, there was nothing I could do. In such a moment, the worst-case scenarios fly around your head, says van Dijk himself. Together with their mother, they both began to pray to God. The situation was so dramatic that the 20-year-old wrote a will. – If I died, part of my money would go to my mother. Of course, no one wanted to talk about it, but we had to. It could be over, he says. Virgil van Dijk faces perhaps his biggest test as a Netherlands player, the World Cup in Qatar. Photo: VEGARD GRØTT / BILDBYRÅN Fortunately, it didn’t work out that way. The operation was successful, but van Dijk was out of action for the rest of the season. He was unable to walk for the first ten days afterwards. – I was shocked. It took several months before he was back on the training field, and when he first came back he was unrecognizable. – I was shocked. He had gone from being a big man to being a shrunken person, says Groningen’s reserve team coach Dick Lukkien. Van Dijk believes a frivolous and ignorant lifestyle was behind the health problems at the time. – I ate so much junk that my appendix was affected. The appendix burst, and it was a very tough time. I learned a lot about food and that we should value every situation we are in, he says today. It didn’t take long for the body to recover, and van Dijk found his old self again. – There must be something wrong with him? The year after the operation, then Celtic manager Neil Lennon went on a scouting mission to watch him in a match between Groningen and Ajax. It was love at first sight. – He was unique. When the recruiting team showed me videos of him, I thought ‘he’s going to be the next Rio Ferdinand’. But when I saw him in battle myself, I thought there must be something wrong with him. I looked around and thought “why are there no Scouts here?”. But I knew we had to get the deal done quickly. We ended up getting him for two million euros, recalls Lennon. Virgil van Dijk eventually played his way into the Groningen team as a 21-year-old. It was the start of a great career. Photo: FRANK RENIA / ProShots Dutch football legend Jaap Stam, who played for Manchester United for many years, believes that van Dijk was underestimated in his home country for a long time. – When he played for Groningen, nobody believed in him or saw him as a top defender. The big teams in Holland didn’t want to buy him, says Stam. “Enjoy yourself, you won’t be here for long” Van Dijk is said to have been offered to Ajax, but then sporting director Marc Overmars chose to sign Mike van der Hoorn instead. The centre-back thus went to Celtic, and the Scotland period really put his name on the football map. Neil Lennon believes the defensive giant was unstoppable from the very first training session. Van Dijk was actually so good that Lennon went up to him at the first training session and gave a clear message: “Enjoy yourself, you won’t be here long”. The spell at Celtic transformed both Virgil van Dijk’s confidence and reputation. Photo: RUSSELL CHEYNE / Reuters Nevertheless, it was three seasons at Celtic before Southampton bought him in 2015. – Southampton were smart to get him, but it surprised me that none of the other big clubs came on board. He could have played for Real Madrid or Barcelona, Lennon believes. After the transfer to Southampton, however, it did not take long before the biggest clubs realized that something special was brewing. Southampton were long reluctant to sell and they disliked Liverpool’s handling of the matter when the Anfield club’s interest began to rise in earnest in 2017. Liverpool eventually apologized for having been in contact with the centre-back without Southampton’s permission. But in August of the same year, he submitted a transfer application himself, and just before New Year’s Eve the clubs confirmed the transfer. – From the first second he was brilliant Van Dijk was brought to Liverpool for a whopping 75 million pounds (around NOK 835 million at the time), and thus became the most expensive defender in the world. His first season showed that the price tag could easily be defended. That season, van Dijk actually played 64 straight games without being passed or dribbled by an opponent. It’s a statistic that says something about his quality. – From the first second he was brilliant. I knew long before he signed that he would be outstanding. His mix of both playing skills and leadership skills makes him unique, believes Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. Jürgen Klopp and Virgil van Dijk have a close relationship and mutual admiration for each other. Photo: VALERIAWITTERS / WITTERS The career has gradually become an adventure for the man who wrote a will as a 20-year-old and was weighed and found too easy by the domestic big clubs. Slowly but surely, he has disproved the many coaches in his youth who did not believe in him. When the Netherlands captain was in his teens, there was little to indicate that a star was in the making. As a right-back for Willem II’s junior team, he had to take shifts as a kitchen helper and do the dishes to get enough money to make ends meet. In the end, he received the heavy message from Willem II’s reserve team manager Edwin Hermans that he had no future at the club. Hermans thought van Dijk had too many weaknesses for him to be anything. Virgil van Dijk has become one of the Netherlands’ most important players. Here from a training session with the Netherlands. Photo: AMIR BEGANOVIC / GEPA PICTURES He was given a second chance in Groningen and by manager Dick Lukkien. When Lukkien placed him on the bench in an U23 match, van Dijk demanded a serious talk. – Knew I could be lazy But Lukkien stood his ground and demanded more from the young defender. Finally, he cracked the code and suddenly developed at great speed. – It was the first time I had to manage on my own, and I had to learn to cope with not getting my way all the time. Fortunately, I continued to work hard, continued to improve, and I am still in contact with Dick who is the head coach of FC Emmen now. He is a fantastic trainer and got the best out of me. He pushed me because he knew I could be a bit lazy, says van Dijk. – I am so grateful for what Dick did. I learned so much from that period and grew as a person, he adds. Towards the end of the first season, he made his debut for Groningen in the Honors Division, and the rest is history. Virgil van Dijk has taught himself never to get nervous. Photo: VEGARD WIVESTAD GRØTT / BILDBYRÅN NORWAY There is a long way between the young and uncertain van Dijk, who struggled to get playing time in the Netherlands, to the enormous defensive leader he has become today. Van Dijk is one of the first names on the list when experts around the world set up the world’s best defenders. – I surprised myself that day. Now he has gained so much self-confidence that he claims he never gets nervous again. He says he has developed a way of thinking that takes the nerves away. There are more important things than football, is the attitude, and the 31-year-old believes that you put a lid on your own skills if you allow yourself to get nervous. – When I made my debut for Liverpool against Everton (January 2018) I was more excited than nervous. I surprised myself that day with the calm I had, he says himself. Virgil van Dijk and his wife Rike Nooitgedagt have been together since before he left for Celtic. Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP He thanks his wife Rike Nooitgedagt for being a rock for him throughout his professional career. She herself had a promising job in fashion, but she chose to sacrifice it when he signed for Celtic. – I appreciate everything we have. I know that life is much more than football. We have a family and it’s about being happy and healthy, says van Dijk. In Liverpool, although this season he has delivered worse performances than we are used to, he has experienced most of it. Both the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Champions League, the League Cup, the Super Cup and the Club World Cup have been won with Virgil van Dijk in the team. He lacks the great triumph with the Netherlands. Maybe it will come in Qatar? In any case, Van Dijk took his greatest triumph in 2012. Then he won over death. Sources: FourFourTwo, ESPN, Liverpool Echo, Daily email, Soccer AM, Opta, The Guardian.
ttn-69
The message from the doctors meant that the WC star wrote a will – Sport Langlesing
