Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon recently revealed in an interview considering offers that was coming for former player Virgil Van Dijk when he was in charge of the manager position at Parkhead.
Lennon also went on to say that some of the clubs had doubts he will perform in other league, following his impressive performance for the Bhoys at the time.
The Dutch International made the big career move joining Premier League giants Liverpool for a reported fee of £75 million in January and has helped the Reds to a Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kiev today, alongside Scotland player Andrew Robertson.
Celtic Twitter page wishes both Van Dijk and Robertsson “Goodluck” in the Champions League final
Good luck to @VirgilvDijk and @andrewrobertso5 in the #UCLFinal tonight! ? pic.twitter.com/1B6j9XCBpK
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) 26 May 2018
However, Lennon claims that he had never had doubts of Van Dijk making a name for himself in Europe, and was in total disbelieve when clubs were hesitating to sign him based on the fact that he plays Scotland football.
Speaking to Record, Lennon said: “It’s embarrassing. I received phone calls from big clubs about Van Dijk on a number of occasions and could not believe what they were waiting on.
“Southampton did the right thing. They came in and completed the business. It was an absolute no-brainer, but because of this ‘playing in Scotland’ nonsense …
“It was so apparent from day one the guy was going to be an absolute superstar but I suppose they used to cast doubt over Henrik Larsson and he eventually went on to Barcelona.”