Former Celtic boss Ronny Deila admits he tried to talk Virgil van Dijk out of a move to Southampton.

The Dutch left for Saints before joining Liverpool last January.

Deila told the A Celtic State of Mind podcast, "He wanted to go away, he wanted to make the next step and I was very hard on him.

"I said 'you shouldn't go to Sunderland, Southampton or whatever, you should go to the biggest club because you have the potential to be there.'

"But he didn't believe me at the time. But one year in Southampton and he was already there.

"He can maybe be the best central defender in the world. You can see the potential he has."