'We did fancy Virgil!' - Tony Pulis reveals he came 'very close' to signing Van Dijk for West Brom before eventual £75m switch to Liverpool

Pulis has revealed how West Brom enquired about the young centre-back back when he was in charge at The Hawthorns. The ex-Baggies manager, who was at West Brom between 2015-17, claims they were "very close" to signing the Dutchman but didn't pursue him further as the Baggies were happy with their defensive options.

He told OLBG: "How close were we to signing Virgil van Dijk? Very close. I think we inquired about him and everything else, but we had some really, really good centre-halves there as well. Jonas Olsson, Gareth McAuley was fantastic, Jonny Evans, Craig Dawson, people of that ilk were very, very good for us at that level. But yeah, we did fancy Virgil."

When Pulis took over at West Brom, interest was building in then-Celtic star Van Dijk, who went on to sign for Southampton in 2015. A few years later, the 6ft 4in player joined Liverpool for around £75 million ($100m), and since then he has become one of the best defenders of his generation. Ergo, it may have been a case of what might have been for West Brom.

Van Dijk, now 33, will likely lead Liverpool - who have just won another Premier League title - against Arsenal on Sunday.