In his native Holland, Virgil van Dijk would spend Christmas and New Year in the company of friends and family. This year he spent the festive season on a Glasgow pulpit offering thanks to the Lord above.
He gave thanks for the lifestyle he has playing professional football and for the fact he has a career at all. Mature for a 22-year-old, adversity has taught van Dijk to appreciate life’s gifts.
Six years ago, Celtic’s £2.6million summer signing was almost released by Willem II for being too small and slow. Three years later, his career back on track at Groningen, he lost two and a half stones and was hospitalised for 12 days with a dangerous abdominal abscess. The scars still feature prominently on his lower stomach.
Pool Bhoy: Virgil van Dijk appreciates his footballing lifestyle having been hospitalised earlier in his career
That he finds himself one of European football’s up and coming young defenders now was all the reason he needed to fall to his knees on Hogmanay.
‘On New Year’s Eve here I stayed with my girlfriend until 10 o’clock and then went to church to say some prayers,’ he said. ‘I prayed for my family and my girlfriend and people that I love.
‘After that went to the hotel to join the team for our game the next day.
‘When I was younger I went to church every Sunday and then when I got older I stopped. But sometimes I pray and I feel it has helped me through some tough times.’
Grateful: van Dijk went to church and prayed for his family and girlfriend on New Year’s Eve
Asked to expand on the tough times he lifts his Celtic training top to reveal two scars.
One, around three inches long, is on the right side of his abdomen. The other runs vertically from his belly button to beneath the waist.
‘They tried to operate on this one,’ he said pointing to the scar on the right. ‘But they couldn’t – so they closed that and operated here in the centre instead.
‘It was big surgery, unbelievable. I had an abscess in my abdomen.
‘I was seriously ill. The doctors said it was very, very dangerous.
‘I lost around 15 kilogrammes (33 pounds). I had poison in my system and the abscess almost burst. It was dangerous and I was in hospital for 12 days. Lucky for me it didn’t burst.
‘But I had a lot of drains inserted into my body. It was a worrying time because it came out of nothing.
‘They gave me some medicine because they thought it was just stomach pain – but they were the wrong pills.
‘For two days after that I threw up some green stuff. My stomach was not good. So I went back to the medics and they did some urine tests.
‘They didn’t find anything, but the day after that I went to the hospital because I just couldn’t take the pain any more.
‘They said I needed the operation.’
Difficult time: van Dijk was seriously ill and had to have an operation to remove an abscess in his abdomen
He recalls the date of the operation as April 1 but for a 19-year-old footballer making his way in the game it was no joke. The date clearly holds lingering significance. As does June 23, the date he realised he was nowhere near ready to return.
‘I started training again and I was bad. I had no power, no muscles – nothing,’ he said. ‘But I played every pre-season game and slowly I recovered. It was such a great feeling to be back.’
Within three years he was attracting interest from Ajax and Celtic. While Frank de Boer swithered, however, Neil Lennon acted.
A £2.6m deal was concluded and van Dijk has proven the pick of the summer signings. Quick, powerful in the air and an adept reader of the game reports in England on Wednesday claimed Manchester City and Arsenal are now interested.
In response van Dijk describes himself as ‘flattered’ but unmoved. Even before the abscess he had trained himself to live only in the here and now.
‘When I was younger at Willem II at 16 I was a little bit slow and they thought I was too small,’ he recalled. ‘So they played me at right-back and they almost kicked me out.
‘I was 16 at the time. It was a very dangerous point for me because they were really talking about sending me away.
‘I was one of the worst players in the team. I was a bad player. Slow, small, I wasn’t good.
‘I didn’t play a lot of games. They were so close to releasing me.
‘But the next season I grew 20 centimetres. I had problems with my knees because of that growth spurt.
‘But once I got over that everything went up the way. Willem gave me another chance and I grabbed it with both hands. I became captain of the team.’
More importantly, he returned to central defence, the position he always regarded as his best. As a teenager he excelled in every sport he tried and he tried them all. Yet he always knew football was his talent.
‘I was the kind of boy who could do anything,’ he said. ‘I could swim, I could play tennis, basketball, even badminton.
‘I could play any sport. Then I went to high school and did a sports trainer course – to be a coach.‘So I had to do many sports and I did that for a long time.
‘I like to do any sport I can – especially basketball. I love basketball. I don’t think I could have done it professionally or anything.
‘I was always focused on being a football player. When we played at school I was always one of the better players in the class.’
By his own admission, however, the growing pains at Willem II and the stomach pains at Groningen placed the seeds of doubt in his mind.
Asked what he might have done if it had all ended suddenly he shrugged and admitted: ‘Maybe I would have gone back to school.
‘I can’t see now what would have been in front of me if I had not become a football player.
‘It would have been very strange. I appreciate what I have now. The beautiful thing in life for me now is that I do what I like.
‘I do what I love as well and I get paid for it. That’s a beautiful thing to have.
‘Everything happens for a reason and maybe there was a reason that happened to me.
‘But I learned a lot from that. I think I am a better human now in a lot of aspects.’
Thankful: The defender admits he doesn’t know what he’d have done if it wasn’t for football
He is also a happier one. His career is developing well and settling in Glasgow is easier with the help of girlfriend Rike Nooitgedagt.
‘It’s important to have someone here to help you with everything and I’m thankful she joined me,’ he admitted. ‘She does some charity work and rests up as she had a busy and hectic job before she came with me to Scotland.
‘She was a sales manager in Holland so she had to give that up for me. That was definitely a big decision for her and I thank her for that.
‘It’s so important she is here – that’s perhaps the biggest reason I have settled so well.’
Others such as Teemu Pukki, Amido Balde and countryman Derk Boeriggter have found the going tougher. Ironically, van Dijk has settled so well his stay may be shorter than theirs.
‘I’m enjoying my time at Celtic,” he insisted. ‘The first six months have been amazing. That’s the best word I can use to describe it.
‘I’ve never played in a team that is unbeaten in the league and on course to break records. It’s just amazing and right now I still enjoy everything about Celtic.’
