Ivan Leko’s name is once again making waves in Bruges. Because if he really wants to intervene immediately, he may not look ahead, but perhaps back to an old acquaintance.
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Will Leko provide Club Brugge with an absolute top transfer?
Leko feels the pressure: Club needs a winger now
Ivan Leko has only just returned when he faces the same painful conclusion as the fans: without a real, threatening winger Club Bruges having a hard time. And then he might revert to a name that is both logical and dangerous: Cyril Nyonge (25). Ngonge is currently on loan Torinowhere he does not get to play much, but is still owned by Napoli, which officially loaned him out last summer with a purchase option.
Cyril Ngonge’s has so far struggled to impress, putting his €12M option to buy at risk. His slow start is linked to a physical issue as Ngonge arrived already dealing with pubalgia, which along with missing most of #Napoli’s preseason, forced him into individual training and… pic.twitter.com/fjGx64FQi0
— Napoli Zone (@TheNapoliZone) December 7, 2025
Ngonge has 8 starts and 8 substitute appearances, with 1 goal and 1 assist. That is not dramatic, but it is the kind of balance that makes everyone nervous: Napoli because their investment should not evaporate, Torino because they doubt whether he is worth the purchase option, and Ngonge because his career in Italy is not fully taking off. And Club? They may see an opening. Not because Ngonge is a romantic childhood story, but because Leko knows him. And because Leko has now, since December 2025, once again been the man who makes the decisions in Bruges.
Why Leko thinks about Ngonge again
If you go back to 2018/19, you will see how early Leko Ngonge dared to test with the first team. He was not given a permanent starting spot, but Leko made his debut in the competition, gave him his first minutes in the Champions League, and gave the teenager the prospect of more. You often see the same pattern with Leko: he likes players that he has personally “made”, or at least players in whom he recognizes a part of himself. Intensity, courage, duel, and above all: the willingness to suffer pain without the ball.
Back then, Ngonge was still a raw talent. A winger with an urge for action, but also with a tendency to play too much on flashes. Too little rest in the last pass, too little efficiency to become truly indispensable at a top club where every mistake is punished. The story in Bruges came to a dead end due to the classic mechanism at big clubs: new coaches, new priorities. Ngonge had to leave to grow. And he has grown.
It is precisely that that can appeal to Leko today: bringing back the best version of Ngonge. A coach who once let him make his debut can do two things: become blindly nostalgic, or know exactly which chords to hit. With Leko the latter is more realistic. Ngonge’s possible comeback in Bruges is not built on sentiment, but on urgency. Club urgently needs a new wing player with an impact.
No nostalgia, but urgency: this is what Leko sees in Ngonge
Ngonge is no longer a promise, but a mature wing attacker with Serie A experience and a backpack full of lessons and experiences. Napoli signed him from Hellas Verona in January 2024 for a fee around €1 million. A player doesn’t get that kind of price tag because he only has a nice dribble, but because such a profile is rare: explosive in the first meters, left-footed, comfortable on the right to cut inside, and with an aggressive drive to look for a duel again and again.
He didn’t become an absolute star at Napoli, but he still made 35 appearances and scored three goals for them. That may not sound spectacular, but in a team with top players where every winger is an international, that is not a flop either. And you see the same thing at Torino: he plays, can determine matches, but he is not (yet) the man around whom everything revolves. That situation is interesting for Club Brugge. A player who is too good to be surplus, but not indispensable enough to talk.
The nuance: why this could also explode
But a potential deal also has to be right. Ngonge is not a cheap purchase. Torino has an option, Napoli does not want to lose, and the player himself will not come back to earn less than in Italy. So if this becomes realistic, it is almost automatically a construction: rent, possibly with option, and clear agreements about minutes. There is also the psychological pressure. Returning to the club where you made your debut sounds romantic, but it is also a trap: supporters immediately expect the “Italian version” of Ngonge, while he may just miss playing time and look for confidence. And Leko? He’s not going to go easy on him. It will test you. Every workout. Every sprint. Every lost ball.
Cyril #Tiring seems no longer central is #Torino’s Plans. So he could be leave in January’s transfer window. Keep on eyes this possibile transfer story… transfers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#transfers
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) December 29, 2025
But that is precisely why this remains such an intriguing marriage. Leko has no time to slow down during his comeback. He now needs a winger who immediately threatens and immediately forces the opponent to drop lower. Ngonge, in turn, needs a coach who does not see him as a luxury substitute, but as a project with clear agreements. That kind of clarity can make him a success in Bruges faster than an anonymous winter transfer from a competition where he first has to get used to for three months.
