Virgil Van Dijk was rejected by Jose Mourinho in January 2018 transfer window

Virgil Van Dijk was rejected by Jose Mourinho, after the Portuguese manager refused to bid for the Dutch International in the January 2018.

Virgil Van Dijk is undoubtedly the best defender in the world and has recently cemented the tag after being awarded as the UEFA player on the year.

On the other hand, his clubs fiercest rivals- Manchester United have been looking for a player like him but it was recently revealed by the Independent that Manchester United could have accelerated the pursuit for Van Dijk but Jose Mourinho, rejected a chance to bid for the defender because he did not want a centre-back at the time.

The Portuguese manager preferred to stick with the likes of Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. However, at that time Mourinho was squabbling with the board over their reluctance to spend big on either Harry Maguire (now at the club) and Toby Alderweireld.

Meanwhile, Van Dijk went to become a Liverpool player after the Reds submitted a £75 million deal, which was the world-record fee for a defender at the time.

Also read: Man Utd News: Nemanja Matic reveals Premier League title failure will fall on Solskjaer

The most expensive defender in the world soon turned out to look like a bargain, as he helped his side to win the Champions League and could have won the Premier League, if Manchester City wasn’t there.

One source at the club stated: “They’ve got reports on so many players, but they mostly go ignored. Some of the players they’d spend fortunes on, they’re not as good as better players who they’ve got reports on, but mostly go ignored.”

Presently, it looks like Manchester United have reformed their transfer policies, and the signings of Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire looks impressive so far.

However, the Red Devils would be regretting for their decision back then, as Van Dijk has been phenomenal for the fierce rivals, Liverpool ever since he joined the club.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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