Van Dijk hails Premier League

Southampton defender Virgil Van Dijk admits the standard of the English Premier league has shocked him compared to his time in Scotland.

Southampton defender Virgil Van Dijk admits the standard of the English Premier league has shocked him compared to his time in Scotland.

The Dutch centre back feels he has learnt more in the last month at the Saints than he did in two years at Scottish giants Celtic.

Van Dijk was signed by Ronald Koeman on transfer deadline day for £11.5million and the highly-rated defender has quickly made his mark at St Mary's and he admits the pace of the Premier League has helped him improve.

"At Southampton I am learning so much in every game I play, much more than I did in two years at Celtic," the former Gronigen defender told Sky Sports. "I feel I have started quite well. I've played five games and it has been tough. The standard is much quicker than in Scotland.

"The ball is like a pinball machine. You have to concentrate. It took me some time to get used to it but I'm doing all right now."

Van Dijk is in line to make his debut for the Netherlands in the upcoming UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Kazakhstan on 10 October and Czech Republic on 13 October.