“A year and a half of pure joy” – Midfielder on time at Middlesbrough, ‘really happy’ during Riverside spell

Middlesbrough fans, let us take you back to 2016, when Boro signed a player few knew about called Julien De Sart.

The midfielder had burst onto the scene a few years before in Belgium with Standard Liège, before being bought by the Riverside residents in February of that year for €2.6m.

The player, now 28 years of age, joined KAA Gent in 2021, and sat down with DH on Thursday to have a quick chat about his career to date, recalling his time at Middlesbrough in the process.

Their question revolved around the fact De Sart didn’t play all that much for Boro during his time at the club, as he was also sent on loan to Derby County for a bit, before eventually returning to Belgium.

De Sart, though, said he had a great time in England.

He explained: “It’s probably the time of my career where I played the least games, but where I enjoyed myself the most on the pitch. I progressed, learned my job. It really was a year and a half of pure joy. I was really happy. It’s a bit contradictory seeing as I was barely playing.”

Still, it’s clear the midfielder has great memories of his time at Middlesbrough, where he only featured three times, compared to 11 appearances for Derby during his spell there, to which he added a goal and an assist.

In July of 2017, he went to Zulte Waregem on loan for a year before joining KV Kortrijk in 2018 on a free ahead of yet another free transfer in 2021 to his current team, Gent, for whom he is now a regular.