The ‘Top Ten Newcomers’ to the Jupiler Pro League include some youngsters with big reputations, a few returnees and a couple of relatively unknown quantities. Three of the 10 are from Anderlecht and there are two each from Standard Liege and Club Brugge. Fabien Camus (28, Racing Genk) The Franco-Tunisian midfielder was a member of… Read More »
It’s been a typical week in the world of Belgian football, both on and off the field. There’s been lots of talk about red cards and suspensions, one player who wants to be a ‘Red Devil’, another who seems a little unsure about his future and another who is seen as a saviour for his… Read More »
The team of the week was undoubtedly Zulte Waregem, annual budget 8 million euros, but as usual most of the noise surrounded Anderlecht, the league’s wealthiest club. It’s been a bad week for the Brussels boys in both league and cup. Strangely though, there’s been little talk of crisis with most observers calling for John… Read More »
Anderlecht’s Matias Suarez is not the first man to be concerned about heading for Moscow in the dead of winter. Reports in today’s Le Soir say the Agrentine striker, not the most confident of people, is worried about joining CSKA – where a fee has been agreed – because of the cold weather and the… Read More »
This weekend sees two Belgian centre-forwards meeting up in a Midlands derby. It’s probably the first time this has happened and it’s fair to say that 12 months ago, neither Romelu Lukaku nor Christian Benteke would have been expecting to be playing at the Hawthorns this weekend. Lukaku was 16 when I first saw him… Read More »
The Jupiler Pro League has lost some top performers in the past two years (Courtois, De Bruyne, Witsel, Defour, etc.) but there are always new faces coming through. It’s far too soon for Anderlecht to cash in on the likes of Dennis Praet but there are players who have either served their time or who… Read More »
On Sunday night I drove to Brugge to watch Georges Leekens’ Club Brugge play Zulte Waregem. I went with the specific aim of watching four players: Thorgan Hazard and Franck Berrier of Zulte Waregem, together with Vadis Odjidja and Carlos Bacca of Club Brugge. Obviously you can’t judge a player on one performance but I… Read More »
The Standard-Anderlecht clash at Sclessin today brings together Ron Jans and John Van den Brom, two of the five Dutch coaches in the Belgian first division. The coaches at two of the country’s leading clubs have had differing fortunes in their first couple of months in Belgium. Jans has certainly shown himself to be the… Read More »
There are several reports today that both Aston Villa and Fulham are bidding for Racing Genk striker Christian Benteke. A figure of €7.5 million has been mentioned. This might be small change for a Premier League club but it’s a significant amount of money for a Belgian club. Racing Genk have an annual budget of… Read More »
You don’t have to look far to find Belgian footballers in England at the moment. With the Premier League’s second weekend underway, it’s Everton and Chelsea fans that have been the most affected by the ‘Wonder of Belgium’ syndrome. Eden Hazard is seen as someone who could rival Messi and Ronaldo, Marouane Fellaini is thought… Read More »