Olivier Deschacht said yesterday that Anderlecht don’t need much during the winter transfer window as they will get Thorgan Hazard and Jan Vertonghen back anyway. However, a nuance must be brought to this statement.
Hazard and Vertonghen will indeed bring a serious injection of quality to Anderlecht after the New Year, but that doesn’t mean Olivier Renard has nothing to do. He really needs to get to work adding something.
A central defender is indeed a necessity. The arrivals of Simic and Zanka should have been enough during the summer transfer window, but we now realize in Anderlecht that quality should be injected.
The initial plan was for Zanka to be a substitute, whereas today he has to play all the time following Vertonghen’s physical problems. Dendoncker has been moved to defense several times, but he is needed in midfield.
A creative player will not be recruited, because we do not want to block Mario Stroeykens. However, Olivier Renard will have to sell someone to achieve his goals. Yari Verschaeren’s name is circulating in the corridors, but it remains to be seen who will position himself.
Finally, an additional attacker would not be a superfluous luxury. Luis Vazquez hasn’t shown much yet this season and at Neerpede, we don’t want to imagine what it would be like if something happened to Kasper Dolberg…
