The near-death experience that helped Van Dijk become 'the world's best player'

Even for someone as calm as Virgil van Dijk, this was a scary moment.

Aged 20, the defender was forced to immediately shelve hopes of becoming a star of European football after he was left fighting for his life. A stomach complaint was worsening and he knew little about its root cause.

Van Dijk would later be told that an abscess in his abdomen was the problem. He lost two stone in weight and was left on a hospital bed for nearly two weeks.

His mother, Hellen, made the three-hour and 150-mile drive from Breda to Groningen to help, as the centre-back faced genuine fears of never playing the game again. For a brief, yet terrifying period, Van Dijk thought a burst appendix would kill him. The youngster was suffering from peritonitis and uraemia as a result, infections that can cause death.

A will was signed as he fought against the poison in his system. Suddenly and dramatically, plans of becoming a Holland international were disbanded. The only thing that mattered, was beating the illness.

“I looked death in the eye and it was a terrible experience," Van Dijk would later declare. "For the first time in my life, football meant nothing to me. It was not important at all. This was all about trying to stay alive."

Van Dijk's former Groningen youth coach Dick Lukkien remembers the 2012 episode well. He believes the ordeal to be the catalyst that has made the Liverpool superstar a Champions League winner and Ballon d'Or hopeful over seven years on.

"I remember it and I was scared as hell," Lukkien tells the ECHO. "In the beginning, it looked like some kind of flu but he went to the hospital because it did not get better. His mother drove down to see him but she didn't believe the story the doctors told Virgil.

"She took him to the hospital and there they discovered a serious problem. He was afraid that he would not play football again. I remember I was very happy to see him again. He lost a lot of weight but we were all very scared about losing him and a player as good as him.

"The hospital told us if he had stayed at home for two more days, it could be life threatening. So that is something you get really scared about.

"He always had a big commitment to football, but after the time in hospital he was more convinced and determined to get everything he could out of football and get all the potential he had in him out.

"I think when you have that experience you become more motivated to get to where you want to be in football."

If those harrowing few weeks of April 2012 have been the driving force behind Van Dijk's rise, the painful memories are working.

"It would have been a joke if I told you I saw all this coming," says Lukkien. "What I saw was a player with great potential. From the beginning to me, it was obvious that he was a great player, but it was also obvious that it would take some time to get it all out.

"He was very anxious at the beginning, he wanted to play and he wanted it to be with the first team. We were both with the second team (academy) so it took him about half a year before he got adjusted to the new environment.

"He was on his own and living on his own for the first time and his mother was in the other part of the country, so yes, it took it some time, but when he got settled and he was used to all the things we were doing at Groningen, his development went very fast and he became a good player

"He plays football, he can pass the long ball, he reads the game and that is what I saw. But he never did it at the highest level in Holland, so I was curious how long it would take and where he could end.

"Because when you see talent at a young age, that is always the question at 19 or 20, how far do you go? And he made little steps I think.

"He went from Groningen to Celtic, from Celtic to Southampton and I think that was good for him. That was what he needed because it was the little steps to develop easier and they have got him where he is now."

Where he is now is top of the Premier League with Liverpool; eight points clear of Leicester City in second and a whopping 11 ahead of champions Manchester City. The Reds are breathing rarefied air under Jurgen Klopp as we approach the end of the decade and Van Dijk's £75million capture nearly two years ago was the move that gave them the liftoff.

Lukkien says in an exclusive chat with ECHO: "The price-tag is something you cannot do anything about, it is what the clubs negotiate and I think since he made his debut against Everton - and he scored - then the discussion is laid down. The biggest compliment you can pay Virgil is no-one talks about the fee anymore and they all think he is very worthy of it.

"I think he is in my top three [in the world], let's put it that way. What he is doing in Liverpool, you cannot see it any other way. They have a lot more confidence and clean sheets and they are getting a lot more points.

"They have won the Champions League final and I think he has a huge influence on that win and what has happened to Liverpool."

But can a centre-back really outshine the goal-laden exploits of Messi and Ronaldo in the eyes of those who select the destination of France Football's golden ball? The pair have dominated the global stage for the last decade and are, without question, the two most recognisable footballers on the planet.

"He has overcome a lot of things in his career. He got sick, he got a lot of criticism and he has made so many little steps since he was 16 or 17 and now he is at this level. It is what he wanted and it has taken a lot of work. A Ballon d'Or win would be some sort of appreciation for what he has done.

"He is the main man in Liverpool for what they do. It is about Firmino and Mane and Salah but Van Dijk has the most impact on the trophies they have won and points they have, so he deserves to win the Ballon d'Or if you look at it that way.

"You cannot deny that he is the best player in the world. He has the quality there to do it for 10 years in my opinion. The Ballon d'Or is about the impact you have on your team for the last year and what you have done for your national team. When you look at that, Virgil is a big candidate for the Ballon d'Or."