In Youth We Trust. It has been Anderlecht’s slogan in recent years, but Club Brugge also relies more than ever on its own youth at the back. Ronny Deila thus gives shape to a project – another term that was recently used mainly in Brussels – that was initiated some time ago. Although this does entail certain risks.
A first on Sunday in Jan Breydel. With the foursome Maxim De Cuyper, Jorne Spileers, Brandon Mechele and Kyriani Sabbe, as announced the replacement for the injured Tajon Buchanan, the entire defense consisted of homegrown players. It didn’t always look completely stable, but Bart Verhaeghe and Vincent Mannaert undoubtedly looked on approvingly from the grandstand.
Lost generation(s)
The fact that the flow was so difficult was a thorn in the side of the Bruges bobos for years, despite the many successes in other areas. Thanks to its successful transfer policy, Blauw-Zwart is collecting trophies, and it passes the checkout on the transfer market almost every summer. However, the contribution from our own stable to all these highlights has so far remained quite limited.
Mechele is now a piece of furniture, but the rest of his generation fell short at the time. Björn Engels still had a small share in the 2016 title, before, like Obbi Oulare, yielding a solid penny. Afterwards, however, nothingness followed for a long time. Few were given a full opportunity, even fewer managed to seize it. No coincidence, because the bar kept getting higher.
Also compared to competitors such as Anderlecht and Genk, who regularly cash in on their breakthrough talents. The signal for Verhaeghe to take action. Club decided to pay more attention to the academy. The practice center in Westkapelle, where the promises and U18s stay in the close company of the first team, was already a first step.
Project 2023
In the meantime, The Nest in Roeselare, also the home of Club NXT, was also transformed into a beautiful training complex for younger football players. These investments in the framework are of course not just appearances, but must also yield returns. So break through the main force, and then leave through the big gate – and preferably for a lot of money.
“We have a project called 2023. By then we want five youth players in the starting line-up of the first team,” then head of training Pascal De Maesschalk revealed in May 2020. A few months earlier, Philippe Clement had Charles De Ketelaere up his sleeve. shaken. After he moved to Milan with three titles under his belt, today’s record transfer is obviously the example.
To a slightly lesser extent, Clement also gave many other youngsters their chance: a total of 11 teenagers celebrated their debut. Partly because the places are expensive, the majority of them have already disappeared. At least Ignace Van der Brempt brought in some money, unlike Noah Mbamba, Senne Lammens or Arne Engels, for example. Daniel Pérez is currently with Club NXT.
Clement’s legacy
Thomas Van den Keybus and Cisse Sandra hope – just like Lynnt Audoor – to follow in the footsteps of De Cuyper and Loïs Openda. After his loan to Westerlo, the former is currently the undisputed title holder in Bruges, Openda has now made it to Red Devil via a temporary detour via Vitesse. A win-win situation, because Blauw-Zwart still collected around 15 million.
At that time, Mechele also first gained experience at STVV. Renting out young people is a conscious strategy, as became apparent when Club publicly provided access to the plans during the failed IPO at the beginning of 2021. Just like the recruitment of foreign talent, which was again used massively this summer. Although Nicky Hayen’s typical team at Club NXT still consists predominantly of Belgians.
And while he has to hand over Spileers and Sabbe to Deila, who continues his predecessors’ work. Finally, Carl Hoefkens and especially Rik De Mil, who also rose to T1 (ad-interim) through youth work, tried to take over the torch from Clement. Both also supported the ambitious statements of De Maesschalk, who has since proven not to be easy to replace.
Teenagers from Deila
Then Parker, as an outsider, had less interest in youth. A mistake that Deila, who does listen to De Mil, does not allow herself to be caught. What’s more: he approached the target with four pieces on Sunday. A snapshot, agreed, but the Norwegian did prefer Sabbe over Denis Odoi. The fact that no additional right back was recruited after the exit of Clinton Mata already spoke volumes.
Despite all the rumors, no one was added at the center back. Not just because Deila does not want too large a selection, but also because he believes in Spileers. So far, only Simon Mignolet, Raphael Onyedika, Hans Vanaken and Mechele have collected more playing minutes. Next in that list is De Cuyper, although Bjorn Meijer is being groomed to take charge of the left back.
Add to that revelation Antonio Nusa, and three 18-year-olds now play a prominent role in Jan Breydel. In Youth We Trust So, or is it too early to start crowing victory? Apart from Nusa with some good will, there was not a single home-grown product on the bench against Charleroi. Romeo Vermant was again left out of the competition, as were Joel Ordonez, Shion Homma and Victor Barbera.
Side notes
Chemsdine Talbi is still in need, but he will also have to earn his stripes at Club NXT first. In Ghent, Deila went back to the experience of Dedryck Boyata. In vain, although Onyedika was previously to blame. Will he dare to throw Spileers and especially Sabbe to the lions twice against Besiktas and when visiting Anderlecht in just a few days?
On an offensive level, the latter passed his test on Sunday, but on a defensive level there are still question marks. The entire backline looked shaky against Charleroi, which only managed to score more than twice thanks to Mignolet. He has only kept a clean sheet three times in 11 matches this season. De Cuyper also thinks more about attacking, while Spileers has not yet paid all his tuition.
Nevertheless, Blauw-Zwart seems to be increasingly reaping the benefits of the change of course – a step that Antwerp is also now keen to take. It is no coincidence that Mannaert and Verhaeghe are staunch supporters of the integration of youth teams at the second level, which, with a year’s lead, is the ideal training ground for Spileers, Sabbe, De Cuyper and co to get acquainted with the tricks of the trade.
Verhaeghe’s plan
Whether one of them will become the next Nusa or De Ketelaere – who should not remain unique – is impossible to predict, but Club NXT is already packed with domestic and foreign talent. Curious to see who can step into the spotlight at Deila, for whom age is secondary to performance. Verhaeghe sees his wish gradually coming true. Maybe postpone that sale for a while?
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