With the transfer of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton to Liverpool FC, the strong Dutchman became the most expensive defender in the world and the most expensive Dutch soccer player ever. Premier League club Liverpool FC paid approximately 85 million Euros.
Before this remarkable transfer, Benjamin Mendy was the most expensive defender in the world, he went from French side AS Monaco to Manchester City during the summer of 2017. Virgil van Dijk had a contract until the end of season 2021/2022 and during the summer of 2017, Liverpool FC and Manchester City showed interest, but Southampton did not want to let him go.
Virgil van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk was born in the Dutch city of Breda on 8th July 1991. He started his soccer career in the youth teams of WDS’19 and was also active in the youth teams of professional soccer club Willem II. When he found out that he had no chance to play in the professional team of Willem II, he decided to try his luck at FC Groningen, another side in the Dutch professional Eredivisie league.
At the club in the north of The Netherlands, he made his debut in 2011 in Dutch professional soccer and until 2013 he played 57 league matches for FC Groningen, in which he scored 5 times. For about 3 million Euros, Van Dijk made the switch to Scottish superpower Celtic. He won the Scottish championship in 2014 and 2015. His good form in Scotland earned him a contract with Southampton, the Premier League club paid 15,000,000 euros for Virgil van Dijk and also in the English Premier League, the soccer experts were impressed by the skills of the Dutchman. At the end, he secured an agreement with Liverpool FC that paid a record amount for Virgil van Dijk.
Most expensive soccer transfers in the Netherlands
Until the transfer of Virgil van Dijk, Marc Overmars, the current technical director of Ajax, was the most expensive Dutch soccer player ever. In 2000, the quick attacker moved from Arsenal FC to the Spanish superpower FC Barcelona.
Top 10 of most expensive Dutch soccer players
- Virgil van Dijk (85 million Euros) – from Southampton to Liverpool FC
- Marc Overmars (40 million) – from Arsenal FC to FC Barcelona
- Arjen Robben (36 million) – from Chelsea to Real Madrid
- Ruud van Nistelrooij (30.5 million) – from PSV to Manchester United
- Robin van Persie (30.5 million) – from Arsenal FC to Manchester United
- Memphis Depay (27.5 million) – from PSV to Manchester United
- Wesley Sneijder (27 million) – from Ajax to Real Madrid
- Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (27 million) – from Ajax to Real Madrid
- Davy Klaassen (27 million) – from Ajax to Everton
- Jaap Stam (26.5 million) – from Manchester United to Lazio Roma
