Celtic boss Ronny Deila has declared that Virgil van Dijk could walk into any team in the Premier League.
The 23 year old Dutch defender, linked with Arsenal, Manchester United and Southampton, scored twice in Celtic’s win over Hearts.
“I will not be surprised if there’s more interest in Virgil in January – but he’s going to be expensive,” a smiling Deila said of the Dutchman who wanted to leave last summer following interest from Southampton and Sunderland.
“He is a fantastic football player and improving all of the time. But Virgil should have had three goals today. It was a better performance by him to miss that chance than to score it! But I cannot expect more from him than two goals!
“I really hope he can stay here at Celtic and that we can keep him. That is the priority and he does love to be here.
“If he is going, though, I hope it is to the biggest clubs and not just an average Premier League team. He has everything you need to do it at that [top-four club] level.
“He is our player and has a long contract, so I really hope we can keep him for the challenges that lie ahead.”