Olivier Deman therefore signed for Antwerp, on loan from Werder Bremen. He might not be the only Belgian player to relaunch in the Pro League…
A transfer abroad is often what all players who break through in the Jupiler Pro League, the springboard championship par excellence, aspire to. And very often, Domenico Tedesco like his predecessor Roberto Martinez encouraged this habit by favoring, quite naturally, players playing abroad over Pro League pillars.
But it is clear that there is a trend: from now on, in addition to Belgians having explored the issue – and sometimes won everything – abroad (Kompany, Mignolet, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Defour, Nainggolan…), we sees the return of the barely reached thirties.
Last summer, several of them decided to relaunch themselves in the country at an age usually considered to be the prime, the peak of a career: Dennis Praet, Leander Dendoncker, Thomas Foket. Before them, Thorgan Hazard and even Nacer Chadli can be considered as being in the same “category”, namely Devils whose return to our championship was not expected any time soon.
And this trend shows no signs of stopping. This Monday, Antwerp announced the arrival of Olivier Deman on loan from Werder Bremen, a year and a half after his departure from Cercle de Bruges. He might not be the last: Dante Vanzeir, who left for MLS, is on the list of La Gantoise; Hannes Delcroix finds himself cited… in Standard.
Step back to better jump and relaunch abroad later? Not impossible, of course. But examples of players returning to Belgium to then bounce back higher than before their first departure are still rare… if not non-existent.
Mike Trésor, Divock Origi, Adnan Januzaj… ?
Their names have not yet been mentioned this winter, but the Red Devils who are not yet thirty and likely to opt for a return to the Pro League through the back door in the months to come are in reality numerous.
We of course think of Mike Trésor, at the bottom of the hole at Burnley; to Divock Origi put on the shelf by AC Milan; to Adnan Januzaj who only played 300 minutes in Seville; to Siebe Van der Heyen, without playing time in Mallorca and cited in… Sint-Truiden. A bad thing is a good thing: if they come back and find their best level, they will be great added values for the Pro League. The problem is that that’s not guaranteed either…
