Virgil van Dijk nearly died through illness, his former coach at Groningen has revealed, as reported by Give Me Sport.
Van Dijk has been as ever-present for Liverpool since his £75million move from Southampton in January, helping to keep 17 clean sheets for the Reds since his arrival – more than any other Premier League side during that time.
The Dutch international has played a pivotal role in seeing Jurgen Klopp’s side concede just five goals so far this term as they look to make a strong push for the Premier League title.
However, speaking to FourFourTwo, Dick Lukkien – van Dijk’s coach from his days at Groningen – has revealed that life could have been very different for the centre-back after he took ill after one match and almost died.
Lukkien revealed:
Virgil was ill, but we didn’t know the extent.
At first we thought he had the flu.
He was at home for a few days and in lots of pain. He went to the local hospital but they couldn’t find anything, so sent him back home again.
The pain got worse and when his mum travelled to see him, she realised how bad the situation was.
She took him to another hospital, which turned out to be crucial.
Despite even being forced to write a will in case he didn’t survive, van Dijk pulled through to make a full recovery and is now considered one of the best defenders in the world.
Speaking of his emotions when The Netherlands captain returned to the game, Lukkien said:
I was shocked. When he returned to the club, he had changed from a big man into a shrivelled person. Luckily he managed to recover quite quickly.
