Van Dijk joined Willem II’s then-acclaimed academy in 2001 as a 10-year-old.
It was a club that had defied the odds just a few years earlier by finishing second in the Eredivisie in 1998-99 and reaching the Champions League.
Shortly after his arrival, Jan van Loon was installed as academy director.
“There was actually no striker who stood a chance against him,” Van Loon said. “He was physically strong and he had a natural talent to take balls off opponents at exactly the right moment.
“I remember in games we would sometimes say to him: ‘Watch out Virgil, there is an opponent behind you.’ He would be very relaxed, like: ‘Yeah, OK, no worries.’
“I recall a game against Ajax, where he would mark their best player. We were saying ‘make sure he doesn’t touch any ball,’ and that’s exactly what Virgil would do.”
Yet there was still room for improvement,
Van Loon, added: “So now and then he could come across as laconic, a bit too easy going. Maybe at times some youth managers even thought of him as lazy.”
That image was partly created by his timekeeping, as Van Dijk would sometimes arrive late for training sessions.
It even got to the point where some coaches wondered whether the young defender should remain at the club.
But when Van Loon took a closer interest in the young footballer, he also gained insight into Van Dijk’s personal life.
He said: “His parents were divorced and at times he had to look after his younger brother and sister. Sometimes he had to take them from school and make them lunch, before jumping on the bus to Willem II.
“That meant he could be late now and then, and if I asked him about the reasons he would always explain in detail what had happened.
“One time I remember his little brother had asked him for peanut butter on his bread, something he had to go and get in the supermarket – and subsequently he just missed the bus. That period has shaped him both as a human and footballer.”
