Eden Mertens

Striker - Lokeren
6 Sep 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Eden Mertens

4 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Jason Hazard puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lokeren, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Nacer Courtois runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Michy Kompany in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

St. Gallen watching Thomas Mertens

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Lokeren have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Match

Lokeren come up short against Zulte Waregem

Zulte Waregem left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Thomas Mertens

“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.

Market

Kevin Doku is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lokeren has been clear about where Kevin Doku stands, which is more than many ever get.

Market

Experience through the door at Lokeren

Quirin Moll arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.

Player ratings

Toby Fellaini keeps on missing

Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

In brief

Back issues
2 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Michy Kompany stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Michy Kompany and Lokeren agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Lokeren

Michy Kompany 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Jason Chadli

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.81, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Axel De Bruyne gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Nacer Courtois in the eights

A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Eden Castagne runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief