VIRGIL van Dijk was in the Celtic team on the day that Kieran Tierney made his debut in senior football as a nervous teenager and sensed straight away that he was destined to cope with the step up in standard and then some.

The promising young left back came on as a late substitute for Emilio Izaguirre in a Ladbrokes Premiership game against Dundee at Dens Park towards the end of the 2014/15 season and impressed onlookers, including his team mate, as he helped the visitors record a 2-1 triumph.

His rise to prominence since has been nothing short of meteoric; he has established himself as a first team regular at the Parkhead club, won numerous trophies and individual awards and established himself in the Scotland national team as well.

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The Liverpool centre half has no doubts that Tierney can succeed in the Premier League in England if Arsenal finally meet his £25 million asking price in the coming days.

Most players who move to England from Celtic or Rangers go to mid-table top flight clubs or even those at the bottom end of the division due to the low regard that the Premiership is held in down south.

Van Dijk, like Victor Wanyama before him and Stuart Armstrong after him, joined Southampton, for a £13 million transfer fee, in 2015 and was only snapped up by Liverpool for £75 million, a world record for a defender, in 2017.

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If Tierney joins the Emirates Stadium club, who reached the Europa League final last season and just missed out on a top four place in the Premier League table and a Champions League spot, it will buck that trend. Van Dijk, though, is confident Tierney can cope.

“It is not an easy step to make and you have to play well to do it,” the Dutch defender, who returned to this country briefly for a pre-season friendly against Napoli at Murrayfield on Sunday, said. “But he has the qualities.”

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The last time that Van Dijk had played in Scotland in a friendly international with the Netherlands at Pittodrie back in 2017 he faced his former team mate Tierney, who captained his country. He was well aware of his opponent's strengths that evening.

“Kieran made his debut against Dundee when I was at Celtic,” he said. “I scored a free-kick up there and then he came on and helped us get the win. You could tell he was a good player who would do well.

“I enjoyed being back on Sunday a lot. It is always great to be in Scotland. The last time I was here it was with my national team when we played Scotland at Pittodrie. It has been a while. It has always been good to play here.”

Van Dijk was watched from the stands at Murrayfield by his former Celtic team mate Scott Brown but revealed he hadn’t caught up with his old captain afterwards. “I didn’t realise Scott was there,” he said. “He should have texted me! I don’t think he has my number! He’s a great guy.”