“Anderlecht are catastrophic in the league”
Peiremans spent 15 years of his life at Anderlecht: 10 years as a youth team and 5 years (between 1993 and 1998) with the A team. He is therefore well placed to judge Sporting. “I thought they were a little better against Ferencvaros, but they are terrible in the league. When I look at the stats, Dender deserved to win. They are becoming the champion of draws – I mean draws – as there is a few seasons. It was especially against Genk that I was amazed. Genk outclassed us. It’s been several years since my club stopped attracting me. still the jersey and we tried to offer something to the fans. I remember for example playing the final of the Belgian Cup against Ekeren (2-4 defeat) at the end of a difficult season.
“Dolberg makes an appearance”
Peiremans is merciless in his analysis of certain players. “Dreyer and Dolberg, who is content to make an appearance, are ghostly. Anderlecht made the mistake of persisting in buying Danes. And Vazquez can’t contribute anything in 15 minutes. I don’t understand the politics: Sporting finally had a good young real ‘9’ coming out of Neerpede in the person of Lucas Stassin and now he is at Saint-Étienne. Amuzu gets injured every two matches. There is a real problem there. Verschaeren is still far from his best level. We saw a spark against Ferencvaros, but will he still return to the level he had in the past? Dendoncker is no longer the same, he lacks rhythm. But we have to give him a few matches. There is no more offensive creativity. I would give young Degreef a chance; the public will appreciate it. And I would also relaunch Leoni. He was one of the best last season. He rakes balls and plays forward.”
“Huh has revenge to take”
What about the coach? Peiremans : “We feel that Hubert is trying to change something. An example: he seems to have understood that Rits no longer has the level. He does what he can with the means at hand. Me, I’m happy that Riemer is gone. I didn’t understand his tactics or his changes. He didn’t bring anything spectacular. He didn’t know what football was about in Anderlecht. His successor? I would take Hein Vanhaezebrouck again. He’s a Belgian, he knows the championship, he’s free and he has his revenge to take, after his first stint at Anderlecht. It’s been several years since I saw the Anderlecht mentality. He can bring her back.”
“If we let Sociedad play, we will get a slap in the face”
Peiremans will not be present in San Sebastian for the match against Anderlecht. “Too bad, I work Tuesday to Saturdayhe said. But I will definitely follow the match on TV. Real Sociedad revived somewhat by beating Valencia (3-0), but they are not in a positive spiral either. This is not the Real Sociedad of recent years. That said: if Anderlecht lets the Basques play, they will take a big slap in the face. But if they win the fight in midfield, they can do something. A local journalist called me. Out of courtesy for Anderlecht, I predicted 1-1…”
“An expedition to attend Standard – Anderlecht in the kop”
This Sunday, Peiremans will not be at Parc Astrid for Anderlecht – Standard. “I’ve only been there a few times since the end of my career. I don’t know anyone there anymore.” Last season, he was in Sclessin for the Clasico, won by Standard (3-2). “A big Liège supporter of Anderlecht invited me to the match. I could have gone on foot to the stadium, given that I live five minutes away, but because of the combi-car regulations, I had to go to Fléron to get on a bus. It was a real expedition lasting several hours. (laughs). But I had fun. I prefer to follow a match in the kop than in VIP. The old supporters explained to the young people who I was. Too bad we lost. I remember a penalty not being called on Dolberg, who obviously did not protest. Then, there were a bunch of fouls, the VAR didn’t intervene… But I saw a good match. This Sunday, Anderlecht had an interest in winning. It will be a very big match.”
“Guardiola played again, I didn’t”
His transfer to Real Sociedad for 3.3 million, Peiremans remembers it as if it happened yesterday. “Coach Javier Clemente from Sociedad came to watch Ajax against my club Twente (coached by Fred Rutten). I had played the best match of my life, we had won 0-1. However, I injured my hamstrings doing a split while tackling Wamberto. Despite the pain, I went on vacation. When I returned, my agent Jacques Lichtenstein called me asking if I was interested in a transfer to Sociedad. Clemente was under the spell of my match against Ajax. Of course I was interested, but did Sociedad know I was injured? They definitely knew about it – so I didn’t hide anything at all – but they thought it was just a rip-off. After two laps of the field, I had to return to the locker room. And on September 26, I had surgery in Barcelona. It was a disinsertion of the hamstrings. I had to take into account six months of inactivity. Pep Guardiola had the same injury. He played again. I don’t.”
“My friend Xabi Alonso gave me his jersey”
Still, Peiremans tried to play again. “I played a friendly match against Toulouse and against Osasuna. I was taken back for the match in Mallorca (1-1, goal by young Eto’o for Mallorca), but I didn’t come up. A few days later, I played with team A against team B. I scored and played well alongside young Xabi Alonso (the current successful Leverkusen coach was 19 at that time), who was already coming out of the lot. At a certain point, I give a simple pass and ‘slap’, I relapse. I never knew how to run again in my life. An operation no longer made any sense. Now, again, it feels like I have an iron bar in my leg when I try to run. Real Sociedad loaned me to Eibar in D2 hoping I would recover, but that never happened. I stayed in touch with Xabi Alonso, I even had his dad Perico as a coach when Clemente was fired at Sociedad. When Anderlecht played against Liverpool in the Champions League (0-1 in 2005), Xabi Alonso gave me his jersey.”
“Alcohol no longer interests me”
Peiremans’ contract was amicably terminated. “These people were very good to me, even if my transfer cost them a bridge. But for me, who had to end my career at 29, the shock was enormous. You should know that I planned to continue my life in Spain, I wanted to buy a house there. Suddenly, everything fell apart. I had a major depression without anyone knowing. As you know, I had big problems with alcohol (Editor’s note: Peiremans notably had a serious road accident). But now, for several years, I haven’t drunk a drop. I feel good about myself and alcohol no longer interests me at all. And Real Sociedad? Occasionally I will go back, because I will never forget the honesty of these people. Just like Anderlecht, this club keeps a place in my heart.”
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