During Gus Poyet's final season in charge of Albion, he had a young Dutch central defender at the top of his wish list.

Poyet travelled to the Netherlands to watch Virgil Van Dijk.

The Seagulls made bids of around £2 million, which were rebuffed by Groningen during the January 2013 transfer window.

A few months later, after Albion's defeat in the Championship play-offs by Crystal Palace and Poyet's acrimonious sacking, Oscar Garcia was named as his replacement.

Five days prior to the Spaniard's official unveiling, Van Dijk joined Celtic for £2.6 million.

Van Dijk moved to Southampton at the end of the summer transfer window two years ago for £11.5 million.

He is back playing for the Saints, at least for the time being, and will be at the heart of their defence at the Amex on Sunday.

Liverpool wanted to buy Van Dijk (below) in the summer, he wanted to go. They are expected to renew their interest in the New Year.

Van Dijk is hot property. The 26-year-old has been valued at anything between £50 million and £70 million.

Which begs the question, how much is Lewis Dunk worth?

Dunk might have been lining up on the same side as Van Dijk (below) at club level, just as Albion team-mate Davy Propper does on the international stage with Holland.

The Argus: Instead the Brightonian stopper has forged a formidable partnership with Republic of Ireland international Shane Duffy, bought from Blackburn Rovers for a then club record fee of around £3.5 million 14 months ago.

That looks a steal now. Dunk and Duffy, the bedrock of promotion from the Championship last season, have continued their commanding form in Albion's promising start in the Premier League.

So much so that Dunk's prospects of following Duffy into international football are becoming increasingly credible.

Talk of Dunk forcing his way into the plans of England boss Gareth Southgate has gathered momentum since The Argus pressed his claims at the beginning of the month.

Consistently outstanding performances have caught the eye of pundits, spectators and bookmakers.

Leroy Rosenior, father of Albion defender Liam, said prior to Albion's last home game against Everton that Dunk "could go into a top six side and he would improve them."

The Argus revealed last week that the odds on Dunk featuring in Southgate's squad for next summer's World Cup finals in Russia have plummeted from 25-1 to 11-1.

More bets have been placed on him than other candidates to make a breakthrough like Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles and Tammy Abraham, the free-scoring Chelsea striker Albion were eager to borrow before he joined next hosts Swansea on loan.

Ex-England internationals Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright joined the growing list of Dunk admirers in the wake of another powerful defensive display together with Duffy in Friday's 3-0 win at West Ham.

Carragher said: "There's nothing better for me in the role that I played to see defenders defend like this, and want to defend. Doing everything they can to stop that ball going into the back of the net."

Wright was similarly impressed. "I haven't seen anyone block as much," he remarked of Dunk. "The last person was John Terry."

Dunk, 26 next month, has matured into a dominant and responsible force. The occasional rash challenges and flashes of retaliatory ill-discipline are in sharp decline.

Stretching back to March, he has been booked only once in his last 20 appearances. In the previous 20 he accumulated eight yellow cards and a red.

Dunk, awarded his fourth new contract in three years by Albion in August through to 2022, was named in Stuart Pearce's England under-21s squad for two European Championship qualifiers back in 2011 without getting a game.

The Argus: England's place in Russia assured, there is every chance Southgate (above) will name him in the squad for the forthcoming friendlies against Germany and Brazil.

Very few, if any, flat back four partnerships in the Premier League are performing better than Dunk and Duffy.

Albion team-mate Glenn Murray, a test for Van Dijk on Sunday following his two goals at West Ham, said: "When you're a newly promoted Premier League club, the one thing you have got to be able to do is defend. We can do that. Duffy and Dunky love defending. It's huge for us and that’s what we'll look to build on.

"They are very different. Duffy is what you would call a traditional old school defender. He'll head and kick everything. And he can pass it, don't take that away from him. Dunky is better on the ball and has a cultured right foot. They've got a really big future in the game, both of them.

"They both push each other week in, week out. We've known this for a while down in Brighton. The country is just waking up to them now.

"Obviously people have known about Duffy because he plays for Ireland, but people are just starting to sit up and take notice of Dunky. There have been bids for him and a little bit of interest but people are starting to see what a talent he is.

"He's a bit unfortunate in that we've got quite a lot of good, young centre-halfs in this country. But I've played against a few of them and he's right up there."

Southgate might be about to agree.