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VIRGIL VAN DIJK has dropped his biggest hint yet he wants a route out of Celtic as he insisted the Premiership is not a good enough standard.

The Dutch central defender had another outstanding game as the Hoops defeated Aberdeen for the fourth time this season with a 1-0 win at Pittodrie.

A summer of speculation is certain with Celtic believed to be looking for around £10million before they would even consider doing business.

Arsenal, Spurs and Southampton have all been linked with van Dijk, with a host of Bundesliga clubs monitoring the 23-year-old too.

Now, in an interview with Holland’s Omroep Brabant regional radio station, van Dijk has given the clearest indication yet he will quit Glasgow in the summer.

He said: “Celtic are a great club with a fantastic stadium and the fans are great.

(Image: Getty Images)

“But the competition is not too good.

“I want to develop. If the opportunity is there, I would definitely consider a transfer.

“But maybe there will be nothing.”

The former Groningen ace admits he has been delighted with Ronny Deila’s first season in Scotland.

He said: “We were in all competitions after the winter break and that’s something Celtic always strive for.

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“Unfortunately, we did not win all the cups and we were eliminated by Inter Milan in the Europa League.

“That’s a shame but apart from that it was a successful season.

“It was really weird when we became champions because we played our game on Friday night and won 5-0 and our nearest competitor Aberdeen were playing the following day.

“If they lost we would be champions and that’s what happened.

“We were off that day so it was a strange feeling but it’s always great to be champions.”

(Image: SNS)

And van Dijk paid tribute to colleague Stefan Johansen for winning the Player of the Year award ahead of him.

He said: “Stefan is a good friend of mine and he deserved to win it.

“If you are a defender or a goalkeeper, it’s much more difficult to get the Player of the Year, but I was in the top four so that was a great reward for another good season at Celtic.”

Meanwhile, Charlie Mulgrew returned to action yesterday after recovering from a knee injury.

He played in the Under-20s’ 4-3 loss at St Mirren.