In his native Holland, Virgil van Dijk would spend Christmas and New Year’s with friends and family. He sat on a pulpit in Glasgow over the holidays this year, giving thanks to the Almighty.

He was thankful for his life as a professional football player and for a career in general. Van Dijk has matured for a 22-year-old by learning to appreciate life’s gifts via adversity.

Six years earlier, Willem II almost let go of Celtic’s £2.6 million summer purchase because of his stature and slowness. When he was allowed to return to work at Groningen after three years, he had dropped 2.5 stone and had been hospitalized for 12 days with a nasty intestinal illness. A visible scar still exists on his lower abdomen.

Pool Boy: Virgil van Dijk is appreciative of his football lifestyle after spending time in the hospital early in his career.

He had plenty of reason to falter on Hogmanay since he is one of the fresh, young defenders in European football right now.

“This New Year’s Eve, I spent the night with my girlfriend until ten o’clock and then I went to church to say some prayers,” he said. I prayed for my family, my partner, and everyone I care about.

went to the hotel to meet the squad for our game the next day.

When I was younger, I used to attend church every Sunday; but, as I got older, I stopped. But I believe that on sometimes, prayer has helped me get through some difficult situations.

Grateful: Van Dijk went to church on New Year’s Eve and prayed for his girlfriend and her family.

He exposes two scars and raises his Celtic training shirt when asked to recall the tough times.

One is around three inches long and located on the right side of his abdomen. The other reaches vertically from his belly button to under his waist.

“They tried to operate on this one,” he said, pointing to the scar on the right. However, they were unable to do so, so they closed it and shifted their business to this facility.

“It was an amazing surgery.” There was an abscess in my abdomen.

“I was really ill.” The doctors deemed it to be quite dangerous.

I think I shed around 15 kg (33 pounds). My system being poisoned made the abscess almost explode. It was dangerous, so I was in the hospital for twelve days. I’m fortunate that it didn’t come out.

But I had many drains inserted into my body. It was a worrying time since it seemed to come out of nowhere.

They gave me the incorrect sort of medicine since they thought it was simply a stomach pain.

I got some green stuff in my stomach for two days after that. My stomach turned to mush. When I got back to the medics, they ran a number of urine tests.

“They did not find anything, but I was in too much pain to stay home, so the next day I had to go to the hospital.”

“I needed the surgery, they said.”

A difficult time: Van Dijk was quite ill and had surgery to remove an abscess in his belly.

Even though he recalls the surgery happening on April 1, it was a major matter for the football player, who was 19 years old, to be breaking into the league. It goes without saying that the date will always be important. June 23 was also the day he realized he was in no way ready to return.

“When I resumed training, I was awful.” “I had no muscles, no power—nothing,” he said. I did, however, play in every preseason game and recovered over time. It was such a great feeling to be back.

Celtic and Ajax were interested in him in only three years. Frank de Boer retreated, but Neil Lennon moved.

Van Dijk has proven to be the greatest summer recruit after accepting a £2.6 million deal. Quick, powerful in the air, and an astute watcher of English game reports, he said on Wednesday that Arsenal and Manchester City are now expressing interest.

Van Dijk responds that he is “flattered” but remains unconvinced. Even before the abscess, he had trained himself to live in the present.

“When I was younger, at 16, I was a little slow at Willem II, and they thought I was too small,” he said. They played me at right back and almost had me sent off.

I was sixteen at the time. I found it to be a really dangerous time since they were talking about sending me away.

I was one of the weakest players on the squad. I wasn’t a very good player. I was little and sluggish, not very good.

I didn’t play any video games. They were going to release me.

But the next season, I gained 20 centimeters in height. I had problems with my knees because of the growth spurt.

But after I got beyond that, everything became better. I grabbed hold of the chance Willem presented to me. I became the group’s leader.

More importantly, he resumed playing center defense, which he had always believed to be his best position. During his teenage years, he participated in every sport available and excelled in each of them. But he had always known that he was a gifted football player.

“I was the kind of boy who could do anything,” he said. I was good in badminton, basketball, tennis, and swimming.

I could do everything I wanted to do. In order to be ready to become a coach, I then enrolled in a sports trainer course at my high school.As a consequence, I had to play a lot of sports, which I did for a time.

All sports are enjoyable for me to play, but basketball is my favorite. I’m a huge basketball fan. I don’t think I could have finished it in a competent way.

“Playing football has always been my goal.” When we played at school, I was generally one of the best players in the class.

However, he acknowledges that doubt began to creep into his mind as a consequence of the growing discomfort at Willem II and the nausea in Groningen.

He shrugged and said, “I might have gone back to school,” when asked what he would have done if everything had ended suddenly.

“I can no longer fathom the kind of life I would have had if I hadn’t decided to play football.”

It would have been quite strange. I am appreciative of what I now have. I get to do what I love, which is why I love my life today.

I get paid to do what I love, too. It is, in fact, a beautiful possession.

“Everything happens for a reason, so maybe this experience was meant to be.”

But I learned a lot from it. I think that as a person, I’ve come a long way.

Thankful: The defender admits he doesn’t know what he would have done if it weren’t for football.

He’s also a cheerful one. His work is going well, and he’s finding it easier to acclimate to Glasgow with the help of his girlfriend, Rike Nooitgedagt.

“I’m happy she came along; having someone here to support you with everything is important,” he said. “She works hard at her job and takes time off to relax before traveling to Scotland with me.”

For me, she had to resign from her position as sales manager in Holland. There, she made a big choice, and I respect it.

“She is here, which is really important, and I think that’s the main reason I have settled in so well.”