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A few words first, I only searched for players who are 21 or younger (born 1980 or later). Because of the fact that a lot of Belgian youngsters already play abroad, I didn’t limit myself to the Belgian leagues only.
1.
Name: Grégory Dufer
Present club: SC Charleroi
Born: 19/12/1981
Position: Left/Right midfielder
Former clubs: Marcinelle
This player has already caught the attention of Sunderland and Nantes, however SC Charleroi have got no intention at all to let their youngster go away that easily. He is about 1m 75 tall and weighs 65 kilo’s. He has for over two years had a regular place in the first-team. He can make the actions on the left wing and regularly follows the strikers close behind. His game is rather technique-based, but his finishing on goal is not always too good.
Last season, he hit 5 goals out of 32 (full-played) games and this season, he found the way to the nets only once so far. He’s also a member of the successful Belgian under-21 selection, who qualified for the European Championship for Nation squads under-21 which is to be held in Switzerland.
Although his contract expires in 2006, most people think that he won’t be at SC Charleroi for much longer. The price tag on him is expected to be very high, but this won’t scare Sunderland and Nantes.
2.
Name: Cliff Mardulier
Present club: SK Lierse
Born: 22/09/1982
Position: Goalkeeper
Former clubs: Berchem
Another great example of Belgium’s tradition of producing excellent goalkeepers. He was Belgium’s under-19 national squad keeper and now reserve keeper in the under-21 squad. His club is renowned in Belgium for giving young players chances in the first-team and so did it happen to him. This season he played a number of games in the first-team of Lierse due to the injuries of the regular keeper. Although his team isn’t performing well, he certainly wasn’t to blame for it. He created all over Belgium a reputation of a reliable keeper who has a great future ahead of him.
3.
Name: Koen Daerden
Present club: KRC Genk
Born: 08/03/1982
Position: Left midfield
Former clubs: Herenhelderen, SK Tongeren
Koen Daerden is the son of assistant coach and former international Jos Daerden. He’s a first-team regular at Genk since last season and also full member of the Belgium under-21 squad. This season should be a confirmation of his talent and so far, he’s living up to it as he is still playing in the 1st team of Genk and already scored 5 times this season.
His game is rather physical-based, although his technique isn’t that bad at all. However, most people notice that his value to the team grows even more when he plays in a solid formation. He plays for the benefit of the team and is considered to be very reliable as well as in his passing as in his cross balls. He only has real problems when he is positioned next to tall and strong defenders as we have witnessed a few times this year. Although the competition is high, he should be easily able to maintain his place in the squad.
4.
Name: Gregory Scattone
Present club: GBA
Born: 04/02/1983
Position: Midfield
Former clubs: Standard, AS Roma
A very skilful and talented midfielder. He usually plays in the reserve team of GBA but is a very good distributor in the midfield. He was only 15 years old when AS Roma came to pick him up. He stayed over there in Rome for 2 years which meant a great deal to him in his progress to become a class player. In order to play matches in the near future at a decent level, he returned to Belgium. Now he is a Belgium under-19 regular and he also brought about the qualification of the Belgium under-19 squad for the play off matches against Greece in order to qualify for the European Championship under-19, which will be held in Norway in 2002.
He’ll probably become part of the first-team when one of the older team members won’t be able to hold him back any longer.
Because of the fact that his club, Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen (also known as GBA), is property of Ajax, the critics fear that the Dutch club will soon take over this talented midfielder and transfer him to Amsterdam as well as all the other talented youngsters over there.
5.
Name: Kevin Vandenbergh
Present club: Westerlo
Born: 16/05/1983
Position: Striker
Former clubs: none
He’s the son of former international Erwin Vandenbergh, whose name will ring a bell with many football fanatics (remember the World Cup 1982).
Although he’s still very young, he’s had his share of 1st team football last year, resulting in 3 goals out of 8 games. This year, he’s a full-time member of the first-team and you can see him making progress every week. This season he has already scored 9 times which made him one of the Belgium under-19 regulars.
He’s not the type of striker who can make the action as it were nothing; he’s too small for that. However when he gets the ball in the penalty area, the defenders better defend close onto him because he’s very manoeuvrable and in front of goal is he a real killer who will always shoot between the posts. Because of his many appearances in the first-team, his passing game has improved a lot since last year and this will hopefully continue to happen this season.
Many Belgian top teams already have designs on him and people think that he’ll move on sooner or later.
6.
Name: Jonathan Blondel
Present club: Excelsior Moeskroen (Mouscron)
Born: 03/04/1984
Position: Attacking midfielder
Former clubs: Ploegsteert
He’s also a member of the successful Belgian under-19 squad. He only joined the wide selection for the first squad this season. However, he’s often a substitute and has had his share of first-team already, this because of the injuries within the team.
He is considered to be one of the greatest young talents walking around on Belgian fields. During this summer, Manchester United started negotiations in order to transfer Blondel to their famous youth academy. His club granted him the unique opportunity, but Blondel himself made the decision to stay in Belgium. He stated that it would be better for him to stay at least another year at Excelsior Moeskroen so he can play already some games at a decent level and obtain some first-team experience. Manchester United accepted this decision and said that they would come back later.
The only disadvantages of him is his young age and his small height (until now, he’s only 1m 55), which makes him an easy target for tall and strong defenders. His game is technique-based although his passing game isn’t quite as perfect as it should be.
However, all analysts believe that this young lad has a bright future ahead of him.
7.
Name: Kristof Snelders
Present club: GBA (Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen)
Born: 05/09/1982
Position: Striker
Former clubs: Germinal Ekeren, Feyenoord, AA Gent
Son of Eddy Snelders who once was assistant coach of the Belgium team.
A substitute player of the successful Belgium under-21 squad and a regular first-team player at his club, although he started the season there as a substitute. This season he made his way into the first-team by making quite a number of important goals (6 until the winter break) for his club.
Snelders is an all-rounder. He isn’t a specific kind of player; he combines all sorts of characteristics: he’s quite fast, quite manoeuvrable, he’s good in short combinations and when he sees the goal, he won’t hesitate to shoot. Long passes are not his cup of tea and he needs a very skilful attacking midfielder or striker behind or beside him who can deliver him the ball because he’s also not very good at making the actions.
As well as with all the other youngsters of GBA, lies the chance that he will be transferred to Ajax when they think he’s good enough. This doesn’t seem to be the case for now. He needs to evolve further, but when he keeps receiving the chances that he is getting now, he’ll surely become a great striker.
8.
Name: Stein Huysegems
Present club: SK Lierse
Born: 16/06/1982
Position: Striker
Former clubs: Blauberg
This young striker is already known in Belgium for about one-and-a-half years. He’s one of the many youngsters in the squad of Lierse and made a remarkable debut 2 seasons ago. He made a number of goals together with a great style of playing. European clubs, e.g. Bayern München, were lining up to scout and buy him. He however chose to remain at Lierse in order to gain more first-team experience and to have more first-team opportunities. Last season, he kept on struggling with injuries and he only scored 1 goal. This season should be the one of his final break-through. However, he’s still not living up to the great expectations. He’s most of the time a substitute and he’s as well as the rest of his team searching for the good form. Only recently, progress seems to have been made and as a result of this he scored 2 goals. And now everybody at Lierse hopes he’s on the right track now.
He has various skills. His pace is quite high and his dribbling is also quite good although he gets himself stuck with this sometimes. He likes to play the ball round quickly and won’t hesitate to shoot on goal.
Many analysts now suggest him to change teams in order to sniff up some new air, which will help him develop his game and will free him from his environment.
9.
Name: Pieter Collen
Present club: Feyenoord
Born: 20/06/1980
Position: Defender (right)
Former clubs: AA Gent, Vitesse Arnhem, NEC, Feyenoord
A strong defender, who already played first-team football when he was 18-years-old at AA Gent and who has also changed clubs. He caught the attention of many teams and he moved to Vitesse Arnhem where he hardly ever played. He moved to NEC where he played that good that the big Dutch club Feyenoord came to buy him. He has played quite a number of national and European games there in which he manifested himself as a solid hard-working defender. He has also gathered 15 caps for the Belgium under-21 squad and most people see in him a potential right-back Red Devil (also the nickname of the Belgian national team, not Manchester United).
He has currently been suffering from an injury, but is on his way to recover and reclaim his place in the first-team.
Niels Govaerts
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