Huddersfield Town v Northampton: Virgil van Dijk lookalike Nigel Lonwijk on inspiration from Liverpool captain

Like the Liverpool and Netherlands colossus, the Huddersfield Town loanee hails from the Dutch province of North Brabant.

He plays in the same position as his feted compatriot and appearance wise, there’s also a striking resemblance between them.

The similarities don’t quite end there either as they do share something else in common on the footballing front.

Van Dijk is a defender with few peers, who is at the very top of his profession.

By contrast, Lonwijk is in the early chapters of his career and if achieves just a fraction of what his fellow centre-half has accomplished, then he will have done pretty well.

But like Van Dijk, if he does go on to achieve success, it will have been via a circuitous route. He will have truly earned it.

An unpolished centre-half in his teens, Liverpool's leader headed to Groningen after failing to crack it at Willem II. He earned a move to Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic and then Southampton and the rest is history.

After spending time at PSV Eindhoven, Lonwijk headed across the north sea to Wolves in January 2020.

He has yet to make his debut for the first team - he had a brief spell on the bench during Covid - and is now at his fifth port of call, loan wise, after previous spells in the third tier at Plymouth Argyle and Wycombe Wanderers, alongside continental clubs Fortuna Sittard and Grasshopper Zurich.

He is contracted at Molineux until next summer, with the club holding the option of an additional year, Twenty-two next month, he is not giving up hope of making it at Wolves and achieving his dream of playing in the Premier League, but you also have to be prepared for everything.

Lonwijk, who joined Town on a season-long loan late last month, said: “Everyone has their own journey and you see that with Virgil as well. He came from clubs in Holland and went to Scotland and went all over the place as well.

"I am just getting the experience that I can. Every season, I am speaking to Wolves - because I am under contract there - as to what the next step is.

"If it’s with Wolves and getting in their first team or going on loan. It’s something we have to discuss at the end of the season. “I am here for a season-long loan to try and help the club as much as possible and then I will sit down at Wolves as well. Of course, I want to get through into Wolves’ first team.

"Every week they (loan managers) get a message out to different people and the contact is very good."

A Netherlander by birth he may be, but England seems to be Lonwijk’s natural home - only traces of his Dutch accent are still detectable, in truth. It seems a good footballing match as well.

An adaptable defender capable of playing across the backline, Lonwijk is blessed with a yard of pace.

The fast and frenetic nature of the game here seems to suit him. League One certainly does.

The stopper, speaking ahead of Saturday’s home game with Northampton Town, continued: “As a defender, it’s a risky position and you can’t really afford many mistakes at the back, so it’s good to get the experience up and build yourself up to be a real defender and ‘man’ in the leagues below the Premier League.

"I’d just turned 17 when I came over here. I like the speed of the game as it’s always at a high tempo.

"As a kid, it’s always your dream to play in the Premier League. That’s where all the best players play in the world. It’s always been my dream to go out there and play."

Working at close quarters with Michael Duff, who boasted a strong career at EFL as a central defender, was an added lure in terms of heading to Huddersfield.

In terms of coaching, defence is Duff’s chief area of expertise, with the likes of Mads Andersen and Liam Kitching coming on a treat under Duff’s tutelage in his time at Barnsley.

"It played a big part in my decision as well to come here,” Lonwijk said.

"I spoke to him and he told me how he wants to help me and make me a better defender. That really attracted me as well."

The attraction of potentially being involved in another promotion campaign from League One to the Championship was another pull for Lonwijk, part of the Argyle side who lifted the third-tier title in 2022-23.

On the similarities between both clubs, he added: “It is a bit similar. I feel when I was at Plymouth that people expected other clubs to go up and we were more like a team that no-one talked about, but we still went up.

"At Huddersfield, everyone is speaking about us and saying they need to go and are one of the biggest teams, so that’s the only difference.

"I think League One is a very strong league this year with a lot of big clubs. We have to focus on ourselves.”