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Liverpool FC via Getty Images
![Virgil van Dijk has to fight his way through his career.]()
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Virgil van Dijk has to fight his way through his career.
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Keystone
![Before he can prove himself at Groningen, the Dutchman is sorted out at his youth club Willem II Tilburg.]()
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Before he can prove himself at Groningen, the Dutchman is sorted out at his youth club Willem II Tilburg.
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TOTO MARTI
![But much worse: At the age of 20, he is in mortal danger.]()
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But much worse: At the age of 20, he is in mortal danger.
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Getty Images
![He makes the leap into the Premier League via Celtic Glasgow.]()
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He makes the leap into the Premier League via Celtic Glasgow.
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Getty Images
![Until Harry Maguire replaced him last summer, Van Dijk was long the most expensive defender in the world.]()
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Until Harry Maguire replaced him last summer, Van Dijk was long the most expensive defender in the world.
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Virgil van Dijk is at the height of his career: a year ago he won the Champions League with Liverpool, this season he is one of the most expensive defenders in the world shortly before the championship title. But nobody would have believed that this would happen so far years ago. As reported in the “Daily Mail”, the 1.93-meter giant narrowly escaped death eight years ago.
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When the big setback happened, Van Dijk’s career was still in its infancy. Less than a year after his professional debut for Dutch first division club FC Groningen, he feels sick. “At first we thought he had the flu,” says Dick Lukkien, coach from his former club, to “FourFourTwo”. When Van Dijk receives a visit from his mother, he clarifies the situation regarding his state of health with another doctor – and receives the shocking diagnosis there.
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“My life was in danger”
Van Dijk has an appendix fracture, kidney infection, and appendicitis and peritonitis. The doctors have to intervene immediately for the emergency operation, because the Dutchman is in mortal danger. «The only thing I could see were tubes that dangled from me. My body was broken and there was nothing I could do, ”Van Dijk describes the situation in the bedside. “My life was in danger.”
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The situation is so serious that the Liverpool star has to settle his estate in the hospital. Van Dijk: «At some point I had to sign some papers. It was a kind of testament. » His mother would inherit part of his fortune, he decided at the age of twenty. «Of course nobody wanted to talk about it, but we had to do it. It could have been over, »said Van Dijk. Fortunately, the emergency will will not be used in the end.
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Sorted out at his youth club
The near-death experience is not the only setback in his career. He also has to put up with a lot of sport until he makes the leap onto the big football stage. Before moving to Groningen, the Dutch international made his way through the Wilhelm II Tilburg academy, but never played for the first team. Edwin Hermans, the club’s manager, said at the time that he had “too many restrictions”.
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Instead, Van Dijk ends up making a detour in the Premier League: he moved from Groningen to Celtic Glasgow in 2013 before making it to Southampton FC on the British mainland two years later. His move to Liverpool then earned him the title of the most expensive defender in the world – the Reds paid a transfer fee of around 84 million euros in 2018. This amount was only surpassed last year when Manchester United signed Harry Maguire for 88 million euros. (yas)
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