Nacer Chadli is finally a Standard player, twenty years after his departure from the Liège Academy. But his dream comes true in a strange way.
A disgruntled spirit may indeed argue that Birth Chadli did not in reality become, at 35 and twenty years after his departure for MVV Maastricht, a “Standard player”. The ex-Diable Rouge only joined Standard’s U23s, under the name SL 16… and there is no indication that this will change in the months to come.
The announcement of his signing was of course only half a surprise: already at the beginning of November, on the set of The TribuneChadli announced that he had been training with the SL 16 for two weeks. But he remained very cautious: “I still have five kilos to lose, I just want to get back into rhythm.”
But even without rhythm and after months of inactivity (he has not played since March 1 with Westerlo, before suffering an injury which deprived him of the end of the season), a Nacer Chadli remains an added value for a D1 ACFF club. We imagine that Sébastien Grandjean liked what he saw, and therefore gave the green light.
SL 16 does not mean Standard in the medium term
Would Nacer Chadli, with his experience and his CV, have agreed to sign for a D1 ACFF club if it was not SL 16? It’s hard to imagine the former Tottenham and Monaco player accepting, at 35, a freelance job without much symbolic value for UR Namur, Tubize-Braine or RAEC Mons. The Standard U23s, on the other hand, remain Standard: the jersey, the coat of arms, the institution. We can say it: by signing for SL 16, Nacer Chadli “is back” in Sclessin.
However, Red fans should not necessarily expect to see him move up two divisions within a month. It’s one thing to have the pace and the level for the ex-D1 Amateurs; it’s another to be able to help Standard in the Jupiler Pro League. Chadli’s last months at Westerlo were far, even, from his time at Anderlecht or his debut in Kempen.
But by joining SL 16, Nacer Chadli is not arriving at Club Med or a fitness center. Maintaining young Rouches in D1 ACFF is very important for Matricule 16, whose academy is one of the few sources of potential income in the long term. We would have liked the management to understand this more quickly, but it is a fact: relegation from SL 16 would be catastrophic for a club already on the brink of the abyss.
Better to have an important Chadli in D1 ACFF than to play a few minutes here and there with the A team. The objective is for him to be the leader that this young team lacks so much. There is no doubt that many U23s still have in mind the goal scored by Nacer in the final seconds of Belgium-Japan in 2018, and that his career will inspire respect.
Finally, let’s not forget that Nacer Chadli spent most of his career as a left piston. Ivan Leko’s left piston is Ilay Camara, Standard’s best player this season; If there is a position where the need for reinforcement is not urgent, this may be it. But the versatility of the ex-Mauve can also allow him to help out, one day, if he really has to… and that day, Nacer Chadli could say that he “really” wore the Standard jersey .
