According to ex-Southampton man Charlie Austin, Manchester United chose Lindelof over Van Dijk in 2017.
During his time in Southampton, Virgil Van Dijk started to grab everyone’s attention with his stellar performances. This had attracted the attention of many European clubs who were interested in signing him.
Liverpool and Manchester United were one of the European clubs interested in him and they felt the 29-year-old Dutch defender would shine once he gets the opportunities.
However, the Dutch star ended up at Anfield at the end of the transfer saga.
WHY DID MANCHESTER UNITED GO FOR LINDELOF OVER VAN DIJK?
According to talkSPORT Manchester United could have signed Van Dijk six months before his Liverpool transfer. However, they opted to sign Victor Lindelof instead.
“I remember at the back end of his Southampton career we were on the bench together at Chelsea away, I asked him, ‘come on Virg, what’s going on? Surely Man United must have been in for you?
“He told me, ‘you know what, Chaz, in the summer it was between me and Lindelof, and they signed Lindelof’.
“I was like, ‘you are joking!’
– Charlie Austin to talkSPORT
United had turned their attention to Lindelof and they signed the Swedish star for €40 million.
Manchester United who are currently 1st in the Premier League looked at Bolstering their defence under Jose Mourinho, therefore, they had completed a move for the Swedish defender.
On the other hand, Van Dijk completed a move to Liverpool in 2018 for €75 million and he went on to win the UEFA Champions League and the Premier League with them so if United signed Van Dijk, then things would have been completely different now.
However, that summer and the summer before that Manchester United made some big name signing which might have emptied their pockets.
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