Arsenal were given the chance to sign Virgil van Dijk for just £12million but rejected him over fears he was ‘too nonchalant’ for the Premier League.
The Liverpool centre-back has now established himself as arguably the best centre-back in England after his record £75m transfer to Anfield last January.
But plenty of clubs passed up the opportunity to sign him when he was at Celtic before Southampton finally signed him, and the Scottish champions’ former assistant manager says Arsenal were chief among them.
‘Arsenal’s chief scout [Steve Rowley] thought he was too nonchalant,’ John Collins told beIN Sport.
‘Maybe that was part of his game but he ticks so many of the other boxes.
‘He’s got pace, power, balance, distribution and he’s good in the air.
‘He can be a bit nonchalant but he is a quality player.
‘Gary McAllister was the assistant to Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool and I told him I hope you’re going to come and take Virgil but Brendan didn’t fancy him and didn’t think he was better than what he already had.
‘He would’ve cost around £12m – every team watched him regularly but the worry was he was showing it against Scottish players but you could tell he was strong, powerful and a well balanced player.’
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