'Van Dijk was a steal of the century'

Former Celtic manager and the man responsible for bringing the defender to Britain, Neil Lennon, still cannot quite believe that Van Dijk was passed over by several Premier League outfits.

Lennon told 'Sportsmail': ''We have seen plenty of footage of him playing for Groningen. You're watching and going: 'Wow is this boy available? There must be something wrong with him. He must have one eye or something. Or something missing...''

''Then you go and watch him, and you're thinking: 'God, he could play for us no problem.' He had a fantastic temperament, fantastic physique and his all-round qualities. He was just a Rolls-Royce. He could go through the gears when he wanted to. Technically unbelievable.''

''When I saw him playing for Groningen, he used to bring the ball out of defence, hit the ball 40-50 yards on a sixpence to the winger. He was attacking the ball in both boxes.''

''I thought: "There must be English Premier League scouts watching this guy." In the end, we got him for just over two million euros. I couldn't believe my luck really.''

Lennon concluded by saying: ''In the first day when we got him into training, I said: 'Look, enjoy yourself here, you'll not be here long.' He was just that good. It was a no-brainer. Honestly, he was one of the steals of the century.''