Virgil van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk
Personal information
Full nameVirgil van Dijk
Date of birth8 July 1991
Place of birthBreda, Netherlands
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing positionCentre Back
Club information
Current team
Celtic
Number5
Youth career
2009–2010Willem II
2010–2011Groningen
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2011–2013Groningen62(7)
2013–Celtic68(9)
National team‡
2011Netherlands U191(0)
2011–2013Netherlands U213(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 April 2015.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 November 2014

Virgil van Dijk (born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch footballer who currently plays as a centre back for Scottish Premiership club Celtic and the Netherlands national football team. He was born to a Dutch Father and Surinamese mother.[1]

Club career

Groningen

Van Dijk started his career with Willem II before transferring to Groningen in 2010 on a free transfer after just one season. He made his professional debut for Groningen coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Petter Andersson during the 4–2 victory against ADO Den Haag on 1 April 2011. During the 2011–12 season, Van Dijk made 23 league appearances for the Eredivisie side, scoring his first professional goal during the 6–0 defeat of Feyenoord on 30 October 2011. He scored his second professional goal for Groningen on 22 January 2012 against Heracles Almelo in a 2–1 victory before scoring again the following week during a 4–1 defeat to FC Twente. Van Dijk scored his first goal of the 2012–13 season on 7 October 2012 during a 2–2 draw with Feyenoord. Van Dijk yet again scored against Feyenoord in the return fixture on 23 December 2012 during a 2–1 defeat.

Celtic

On 21 June 2013, Van Dijk signed a four-year contract with Celtic for a fee of around £2.6 million.[2] He scored two against Ross County from headers and earned a goal of the month nomination against St.Johnstone. He was part of the defence that went 1,215 minutes without conceding a goal, breaking the 43-year-old record set by Aberdeen's keeper Bobby Clark. He won the Celtic Players' Player of The Year award.

On 30 November 2014, Van Dijk scored the first and last goals of Celtic's 4–0 win at Heart of Midlothian in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.[3]

Career statistics

As of 26 April 2015
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Groningen 2010–11 5200——52
2011–12 23310——243
2012–13 34230——372
Total 62740——667
Celtic 2013–14 365201080475
2014–15 32454401425510
Total 689745022210215
Career Total 130161145022216822

    Honours

    Celtic

    References

    1. ↑ "News". Celtic FC. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
    2. ↑ "Virgil van Dijk: I'm delighted to be wearing the Hoops". Celtic F.C. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
    3. ↑ Southwick, Andrew (30 November 2014). "Hearts 0-4 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

    External links