On July 1st, we carried a report from Het Laatste Nieuws, who explained Brighton & Hove Albion have beaten Celtic to sign Lars Dendoncker, whose contract at Club Brugge came to an end.
Another report from the same newspaper explained the 19-year-old has rejected an opportunity to reunite with his brother Leander at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
These claims have been backed up the teenager’s representative, Andres Dendoncker, during an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.
“…the reactions in Belgium were rather lukewarm. Except for a few clubs that called him interesting,” the agent said.
“There was, however, interest from the Netherlands, Scotland, France, Italy and England. And England, that remains a unique opportunity. Lars also wanted the greatest possible challenge for himself.”
“There will be people who say that it is better to break through in Belgium first, but that was simply not the case. Wolverhampton was charmed, but Brighton became really concrete, and Lars immediately had a very good feeling about that club. Hence the choice.”
The Belgian publication states Lars has signed a two-year deal, with an option to further extend it by a year. He will initially be part of their U23 side.
Andres gave a background about the work done by Graham Potter’s side to sign Dendoncker and explained how Lars was convinced after holding talks with the Premier League side.
“He has really been scouted intensively by Brighton last season – especially in the Youth League, where he has done well. Lars doesn’t come out of nowhere, either. He also played a good European Championship with the U17 two years ago,” Andres explained.
