Hockaday says he recommended signing van Dijk while he was Leeds manager

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Former Leeds United manager David Hockaday says he recommended bringing Virgil van Dijk to the club while he was in charge, according to the Guardian.

They report Hockaday’s claims that back in 2014 – when van Dijk was at Celtic – he recommended signing the Dutchman but it was dismissed by Massimo Cellino.

Of course, van Dijk eventually moved to England with Southampton before joining Liverpool in a deal the BBC reported at the time was worth a whopping £75m in January 2018.

Hockaday saw his recommendations pushed aside and said: “Don’t make me cry. I was scratching my head being told ‘no’ about those I had recommended while we were getting in these Italian-based players who were nowhere near it and, I have got to say, that’s what killed me.”

There’s no real way to know how much truth is in the claim or how realistic it was that Leeds could have got van Dijk – but his comments are indicative of the way the club was run at the time.

It wouldn’t be surprising if many English clubs at the time had their sights set on van Dijk as something of a hidden gem in Scotland back then.

But van Dijk has now developed into one of the best central defenders in the world and would have been a massive asset to Leeds if they could have got him in.