Reda Laalaoui

Central Midfielder - Westerlo
27 May 2027
Thursday
Process

Marked for Reda Laalaoui

39 Edition

The Westerlo Courier

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Seiji Kimura wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Westerlo know it.

Squad

A row about effort at Westerlo

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Westerlo

Reda Laalaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Serhiy Sydorchuk's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Amando Lapage

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Aribim Pepple knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Westerlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

Back issues
32 Edition

The Westerlo Courier

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Jason Denayer signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jason Denayer commits to Westerlo for another 2 years.

Squad

Home is on Isa Sakamoto's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Westerlo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Match

Lucas Lima’s goal not enough for Westerlo

Lucas Lima scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Club Brugge, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Andreas Jungdal makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Market

Westerlo and Isa Sakamoto are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

A falling-out at Westerlo

Reda Laalaoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Eden Tielemans left the room before anybody could ask which.

Player ratings

Lucas Lima runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The terraces

The spotlight tightens on Andreas Jungdal

Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.

In brief