Virgil van Dijk insists Celtic ‘must do better’

Celtic's Virgil Van Dijk celebrates with the Scottish Premiership trophy. Picture: SNS

The classy centre-back, bought for a bargain £2.6million from Dutch outfit FC Groningen in the summer, said: “It’s been a wonderful campaign. For me, it is a first, so it has been a particularly enjoyable season at Celtic. It’s been a great experience and I’ve learned a lot at this club.

“We deserved the championship, but I think we’ll do better in the next campaign. The defeats in the Scottish Cup and the League Cup were massive disappointments. And, of course, we failed to qualify from our Champions League group, too. So there is work ahead and we need to keep improving. That has to be our aim.”

Van Dijk has been linked with several top-flight English sides since his impressive debut term at Celtic Park. Asked if he would be around for the new season, the 22-year-old replied somewhat cagily: “I have a contract here until 2017. However, in football you never know what can happen, so we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, Kris Commons paid  tribute to the club’s supporters after  yesterday’s 3-1 victory over Dundee United. After the full-time whistle, Celtic legends Stiliyan Petrov and John Hartson took to the stage to present the Bhoys with their medals before captain Scott Brown lifted the SPFL Scottish Premiership trophy

Commons, who has been named the club player of the year as well as scooping the accolade from the Scottish Football Writers and Scottish PFA, said the fans had been a driving force behind their successful title defence.

Commons turned in yet another man of the match display and capped his performance with his 32nd goal of the season, and, describing his goal, he told Celtic TV: “I was in two minds whether to smash it or dink it but luckily enough for me, the keeper went to ground and that made things easier, and I got the goal on a great day for everyone.

He added: “There are a lot of good players in Scotland and down in England who don’t get the chance to experience and appreciate this, it’s special and there’s no other club like it.

“It makes you appreciate every  moment that you have with the club. The fans are one of a kind, that goes without saying, but it’s on days like this when you collect your medal that you get a sense of how much it means to everyone.

“It’s an honour to be here and to be involved with this club.”