Joe Cole has claimed that ‘history changes’ if Tottenham had signed Virgil van Dijk instead of Liverpool.
The Netherlands international joined the Reds in early 2018 from Southampton for a then-world record fee for a defender of £75 million.
Van Dijk has since managed to transform Liverpool with his influence in defence, helping the club to become one of the best sides in the Premier League and Europe in recent years.
He was part of the side that romped to the league title in the 2019/20 campaign, as well as securing the club’s sixth Champions League crown the year before.
However, former Chelsea midfielder Cole claims Van Dijk could have actually joined Spurs instead of Liverpool, with then-manager Mauricio Pochettino allegedly showing an interest in the defender at the time.
Cole claimed that the paths of both clubs would have played out completely differently had the Dutchman moved to North London instead.
Cole told the All To Play For podcast: “There was a point when [Virgil] Van Dijk went to Liverpool. Apparently, Tottenham were in the running for Van Dijk.
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“Imagine you take Van Dijk out of the Liverpool team and you put him in that Tottenham team, then history changes because he’s that good.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Maybe Spurs did have an interest in Van Dijk, but we need to remember that the club already had an established defensive partnership in Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld at the time. Plus we don’t know whether he would have had the same impact here as he did at Liverpool.
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