Laurent Deraedt returns to Belgian football by resuming service in Charleroi: “If it hadn’t been the Zebras, I would have stayed in Morocco”

He recognizes it himself. The goalkeeper coach would not have considered a return to Belgium anywhere other than the Zebras. “I am from Charleroi. As a teenager, I did all my training here. Mehdi’s speech (During) made me aware. He told me I had the DNA of the club in me and that he needed that.” Inevitably, this proposal brought back to Deraedt the sweet reminiscences of his childhood.

That of Mambourg, “the old version” where his first football memories were born there with “the rise against Racing Mechelen thanks to Goretti in June 85 and Berto Bosch’s goal against Anderlecht.” Above all, this interest from Charleroi allows him to join the first team, he who had worked with him from afar, younger, when his career with the number 22 had stopped in UEFA juniors, the equivalent of the U18s of our days. “In Morocco, I saw Jacky Mathijssen again. I showed him a photo I took with him when I was 15. He had just signed for Charleroi for the move up to D1. ‘Oh damn, how we’ve changed’ he said to me, smiling.

At the Olympics, a pizza for the players before the match resumes

It is this connection with the club of his city and the multiple missed meetings of the past which led him to upset his present. Morocco, by allowing him to become responsible for training and goalkeepers at the federation, had nevertheless allowed him to digest his ouster from Anderlecht in October 2022 of which he had been a collateral victim of Felice Mazzù’s C4. “I went through a complicated period after my dismissal there. Morocco was a breath of fresh air. People immediately trusted me and accepted me. It was hard on a human level to leave them. I met extraordinary people.”

He also experienced adventures there that marked a life. The victory at the Can U23 and the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics will remain engraved in his memory. “When we entered the Olympic tournament against Argentina, I experienced the craziest thing of my career. Argentina equalizes in stoppage time. The match is stopped because there were projectiles on the field. We had been waiting in the locker room for an hour to find out if we were going to start again or not. Nobody thought we would end the game so badly that the players were eating pizza in the locker room. Hakimi comes out of a third meeting with the referee who tells him that we are going to play again and that he must check with the VAR if the Argentinian equalizer is valid. And there, the goal is canceled. After two hours of stopping, we had to defend this advantage for the remaining 5 minutes, almost cold.

The journey will take him to the end of the tournament where the Atlas Lions will win a historic bronze medal. Staff members do not get a charm. A small injustice that he puts into perspective. “When you experience such an event, it would have been good to have it but even the third goalkeeper, who participated in all the training, didn’t have one.”

Looking forward, Deraedt is happy to find “the rhythm of the matches each week” which he likes as a competitor when selection football spaced out the deadlines without there being a shortage of work. Sporting’s new goalkeeper trainer will have some work to do. It will be attractive with young and promising goalkeepers like Koné and Delavallée. “Humanly, they are open-minded players, very intelligent and attentive.”

Cédric Berthelin left his mark on the club during his five and a half years but his successor has all the assets to carry out his replacement. “I felt the strong bond that Cédric formed with the goalkeepers in the squad. The handover must be done smoothly. I am not here to revolutionize what has been done. I have to take inspiration from it and add my personal touch.”

If Berthelin made his dream come true by joining Lens, his favorite club, Deraedt accomplished his with Charleroi. And all the ingredients are there to witness a future great story.