‘Family feud’ that made Virgil Van Dijk to use only his first name on his jersey

Virgil Van Dijk only uses his first nmae on his jersey [Photo: Courtesy]

When Liverpool was in the process of securing a record-breaking signing of £75M for former Southampton defender Virgil Van Dijk, many Liverpool fans became ecstatic and rushed to the stores to purchase jerseys just to show their endorsement of the deal.

According to the British media, most of those jerseys were imprinted with player’s middle and sur name-‘Van Dijk’. However, it later turned out that the player preferred using his first name ‘Virgil’ to his father’s name ‘Dijk’.

This may have brought confusion among the supporters, Virgil’s maternal uncle has moved to quell the problem, by providing an explanation that made the Dutch defender to sanction such a decision.

While speaking to one of the leading British media, Virgil’s uncle said that the player’s decision may have been influenced by the divorce that his parents went through.

“His dad split with his mother and his three children, including Virgil, found it hard to forgive him for that.

“The truth is his dad was not around for so many important years and it is his mother who is the real hero of this story.

“You don’t take your dad’s name off your shirt without a reason and Virgil has made it very clear how he feels.”

After being raised by a single mother, Virgil resorted to dropping his sur name perhaps as a way of showing disapproval of what his father did, as well as going against the grain- maintaining the family name.