If you want to know the facts and the stats behind Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool star, UEFA Men’s Player of the Year 2018 – 2019, then this is the book for you. They're all there – the number of goals scored for teams and country, the number of clean sheets kept. You’ll also learn lots about Van Dijk the man, his early life growing up in the Netherlands and playing football non-stop, his dreams of playing like Ronaldinho and how a late growth spurt turned him into the football giant he is today. It’s told in such a lively, accessible style, with lots of humour and asides from writer and illustrator (they appear in the illustrations, slipping in extra jokes and football facts). Readers can test their memory at the back with a quiz and this is a winner for any young footballer, whatever side they support.
If Van Dijk is your favourite football superstar, then this is the book for you! Discover how he went from playing football in cages and in the streets in the Netherlands to being named the UEFA Men's Player of the Year in 2019.
Learn how Van Dijk came to captain the Netherlands national team and become one of the strongest defenders in the world, currently playing for Liverpool.
Football Superstars: Van Dijk Rules is written in an engaging and accessible style that's ideal for emerging and reluctant readers. The simple narrative text is supplemented with cartoons and visual jokes, and presented with an energetic, graphic look. Sections and chapters make it easy to navigate and fun to dip in and out of.
A supporting cast of players, managers, TV pundits - and even the authors themselves - chip in with quotes, jokes and comments to add to the playful and informative fun.
After studying the history of everything at Goldsmiths College, Simon worked at the Science Museum making paper aeroplanes and setting fire to hydrogen balloons. Despite being a fully-grown man, his favourite subjects include dinosaurs, robots, rockets, loud music and Star Wars. An Ipswich Town fan since they won the FA Cup in 1978 (it's true - look it up) he lives in Kent with his wife, daughter, and a cat with two names.