Bought by Aston Villa from Wolves towards the end of the transfer window, Leander Dendoncker has so far played just 23 minutes of Premier League football for Steven Gerrard’s side.
The versatile midfielder, who can also play in defence, made the switch despite beginning the season as a starter under Bruno Lage at Molineux, but a late offer from the Villans changed his career plan.
The lack of game time since the end of August has put some question marks surrounding his place in the Belgium squad at the upcoming World Cup, which is something Roberto Martinez was asked about in an interview with RTBF.
The manager replied: “We know exactly what he’s capable of. He’s a reliable person, he can play in different positions… He has a lot of qualities to be a part of the 26 players selected for the World Cup. During the June games, he got a new status with Belgium and then he changed clubs and didn’t play much.
“He needs time, and we saw that as an opportunity to try different options like Zeno Debast. We wanted to see how he adapted to this role, because Leander, we know exactly what he can do. Until the World Cup, he still has time to come back to his best level.”
At 27 years of age, the Aston Villa midfielder has 29 caps to his name as well as a goal, and it was widely expected that he would continue to add to that tally before the World Cup and during the tournament.
However, the change from Wolves appears to have been a bit costly for him, and we will have to wait and see if his decision to leave Molineux and play under Steven Gerrard, who doesn’t appear fully convinced just yet, pays off.
Prior to move to Aston Villa, Dendoncker had made 159 appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, scoring 12 goals and assisting another four.
