Eleven years ago, Jacques Lips, owner of the restaurant Oncle Jean, stood in the kitchen doorway and looked approvingly at his employee. He was a 16-year-old with curly hair, hunched over the sink. He was a hard worker, always on time, never absent on the two busiest nights of the week.

“Stay here, Virgil,” Lips said, “Stop dreaming about being a football player. At least you’ll earn a few bucks working with me.”

Without saying anything, Van Dijk just smiled, focused on scrubbing the dishes until they were sparkling clean, wiping them down, and putting them back on the rack. When he was done, he bowed to his boss and walked outside, where his father was waiting.

Despite some late nights, Van Dijk always got up early the next morning to attend the Willem II Academy. Sometimes he thought about the sincere offer of the restaurant owner Oncle Jean. Perhaps it was right, because the Willem II board had no intention of signing him. They thought Van Dijk was not good enough to be promoted to the first team.

As a defender, he was not very tall, and he was slow. In short, very different from Jaap Stam, who had played for Willem II and whose subsequent success had set the model for a central defender.

Assuming the worst case scenario, being released and not finding another club, Van Dijk would fall into tragedy. While if he worked hard for 5 hours a night with the dishes at Oncle Jean, he could still pocket a few hundred euros a month, enough to be comfortable and be able to treat his friends to a comfortable meal at McDonald’s. If he agreed to stay long-term, of course the income would be higher.

Then on 29 May 2011, three months before his 20th birthday and after four substitute appearances, Van Dijk made his first start against ADO Den Haag. He made a direct error leading to a goal, but that didn’t stop Groningen fans from being excited about the young centre-back, as Van Dijk scored two goals in just eight minutes.

At first glance, Van Dijk looks both rugged and seemingly indifferent to the game’s developments. But if anyone believed that, they would be fooled. He has a sharp mind to perceive everything that has happened, then accurately predict the next developments to stop any threat. Not only in defense, Van Dijk also wanders around the opponent’s penalty area and suddenly breaks in, killing them, with his head or with his feet. He has a very good technical foundation, hidden under his bulky appearance.