Despite Aston Villa being in a bad run of form this season under Steven Gerrard, the manager refuses to start Leander Dendoncker.
The defensive midfielder, who can also play at the heart of the defence, was bought from Wolverhampton Wanderers late in the transfer window for a fee £13.5m.
The belief was that he would play quite quickly at Villa Park, but that hasn’t been the case, as he has yet to start a game for Aston Villa.
This is a concern for both the player and his country, who will have wanted to include him in their squad for the 2022 World Cup, as Roberto Martinez has shown he is a big fan in the past.
The 29 caps to Dendoncker’s name are proof of that, but his lack of minutes are an issue, as they can’t call him up if he’s not fully fit.
This is what RTBF are saying on Thursday, looking at the players who have to ‘pull out all the stops’ at their clubs to get a chance of making it on the plane to Qatar.
Dendoncker is one of those, and with his 48 minutes, he will have to ‘take advantage of every opportunity’ to prove himself at the club.
Whether the 12 minutes he was given by Gerrard against Chelsea will do that for the game against Fulham remains to be seen, but the Aston Villa man currently isn’t anywhere near the Belgium squad.
