Van Dijk names Johansen as the best Celtic player he played with

Virgil van Dijk surprisingly named Stefan Johansen as the best player he played alongside during his time with Celtic in a tweet which could leave Brendan Rodgers rather red-faced.

The Liverpool star did a Q&A with his followers on Twitter earlier this week, and he was inevitably asked a Celtic related question, with user @paulthetim asking him to name the best player at the club during his spell at Parkhead.

And Van Dijk caught us off guard by naming Johansen as that man.

Twitter: @paulthetim I loved my time at Celtic and played with so many top players but a special mention for Stefan Johansen (@VirgilvDijk)

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Van Dijk’s revelation was slightly surprising, considering how he played alongside the likes of James Forrest, Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong during his time at the club.

However, Johansen did have one of his best seasons with Celtic during the 2014/15 campaign in the same side as Van Dijk, with 13 goals and 10 assists in all competitions.

Although it is a surprising choice from Van Dijk, it is also an understandable one when Johansen’s form that season is taken into account. Furthermore, Van Dijk’s tweet may well leave Rodgers rather embarrassed.

The midfielder was quickly written off by Rodgers despite having established himself as a regular in the side during his time in Glasgow, with Johansen revealing to Get West London, as cited by HITC, that the former Celtic boss forced him out on Parkhead.

The manager at Celtic (Brendan Rodgers) said it was obvious I needed to sort out a new club.

But Van Dijk’s belief suggests Johansen still could have had a lot to offer Celtic had Rodgers kept him on, instead of selling him to Fulham.

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