Former West Brom boss Tony Pulis has revealed how close his old side came to signing Virgil van Dijk before he eventually joined Liverpool.
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Van Dijk one of world's best defendersCould have joined West Brom before LiverpoolPulis tells tale of the Baggies' interestFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Pulis has revealed how West Brom enquired about the young centre-back back when he was in charge at The Hawthorns. The ex-Baggies manager, who was at West Brom between 2015-17, claims they were "very close" to signing the Dutchman but didn't pursue him further as the Baggies were happy with their defensive options.
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He told OLBG: "How close were we to signing Virgil van Dijk? Very close. I think we inquired about him and everything else, but we had some really, really good centre-halves there as well. Jonas Olsson, Gareth McAuley was fantastic, Jonny Evans, Craig Dawson, people of that ilk were very, very good for us at that level. But yeah, we did fancy Virgil."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
When Pulis took over at West Brom, interest was building in then-Celtic star Van Dijk, who went on to sign for Southampton in 2015. A few years later, the 6ft 4in player joined Liverpool for around £75 million ($100m), and since then he has become one of the best defenders of his generation. Ergo, it may have been a case of what might have been for West Brom.
AFPWHAT NEXT?
Van Dijk, now 33, will likely lead Liverpool – who have just won another Premier League title – against Arsenal on Sunday.