Celtic boss Ronny Deila is happy that Virgil van Dijk has completed his much desired move to the Premier League, adding that the Hoops will try to unearth a new defender of the Dutchman’s calibre.
Van Dijk had been at the Scottish giants since the summer of 2013 when he moved from Dutch club FC Groningen and went on to become an indispensable presence in the Hoops’ defence.
He was keen on a move to a bigger club last season, but stayed put at Celtic Park for the 2014/15 season that ended with Celtic winning a double of the Premiership title and the League Cup. And the Dutchman completed his desired move to the Premier League as he signed for Ronald Koeman’s Southampton earlier this summer.
Deila has heaped praise on the defender for the services he rendered to the Bhoys during his time at the club.
“We had a fantastic player in Virgil and I’m happy for him to get the chance now”, the manager was quoted as saying by his club’s site.
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“We had no chance to keep him because last year he wanted to go but he stayed one more year.
“That was good for him and good for us because he has developed and now was the time for him to move on because his motivation was to get to a higher level.”
The Norwegian has said that the Hoops will now try to unearth another defender of Van Dijk’s calibre or perhaps, someone even better.
“Now we have good players in and I’m looking forward to working with those players and hopefully getting a new Virgil van Dijk, or even better.”
The Bhoys have signed Jozo Simunovic from Dinamo Zagreb and Deila is hoping that the Croat follows in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor.
“Jozo has the potential. Virgil has been given a lot of credit by me over the last year and I did that because I really mean he’s a top player.
“We have scouted Jozo for a long time and we think he has the attributes to be a big player.”
