Desperately wanting a move away from Anderlecht in the summer after seeing his close mate Youri Tielemans get his big(ger) move to Monaco, Leander Dendoncker’s wish was never granted.
He wasn’t short of suitors either, with clubs like Everton, Manchester United (to replace an ageing Michael Carrick) and the aforementioned Ligue 1 champions (in case of a Fabinho departure) all said to be after him.
Now stuck in Belgium until January at the earliest, the defensive midfielder is having to suffer alongside his teammates as last year’s Pro League winners go through a very tumultuous start to the season.
Temporarily managed by Nicolas Frutos after their now former manager, René Weiler, stepped down a week and a bit ago, Anderlecht wanted to desperately get their campaign back on track by picking up some points against Celtic in the Champions League.
Alas, it wasn’t to be, as they lost 3-0.
However, if Everton were watching their summer target Leander Dendoncker, they won’t have been all that disappointed.
While L’Equipe on Thursday explain that Frutos’ decision to play a 5-3-2 was ‘rather disastrous’, his star midfielder put in the best performance of the evening for Anderlecht (a 6/10), and that’s after he was moved into the centre of defence.
We’ll have to wait and see whether or not Ronald Koeman returns for Dendoncker in future transfer windows, but, if they didn’t know it already, they’ll now be aware playing him in the centre of defence might not be as risky as first thought.
With Ronald Koeman also partial to playing the odd game in a three at the back formation, having a midfielder capable of slotting into the centre of defence in case of an injury crisis could be a useful ace up his sleeve going forward.
Something to think about, at least.
