Towards the end of March, Steven Defour really wasn’t optimistic about playing in the 2018 World Cup with Belgium.
The Burnley midfielder, currently recovering from an injury, felt he only had a “5% chance” of being on the plane to Russia, but that appears to have improved a bit recently.
Last week, Defour was spotted at his former club Anderlecht and DH caught up with him, noticing he wasn’t walking with crutches anymore, and the midfielder said he still had ‘a little hope of being able to go to the World Cup’.
Despite there being a lot of competition for a spot in Belgium’s midfield, the Burnley star would feel that, if fit, he should be at least considered, and that’s exactly what Roberto Martinez is planning on doing.
Speaking to L’Avenir, he said: “They (Defour and Chadli) are players who invested themselves for two years in order to get the qualification for Russia. For them, the door will remain open until the very last day”.
Those are exactly the kind of words Sean Dyche’s midfielder will want to hear at this point in the season, having worked so hard to get back in time for the international competition in recent weeks.
Whether he makes it is now all on him. If he’s 100%, there’s a very good chance he’ll be on that plane.
