Dries Witsel

Left Midfielder - Lokeren
19 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 4 Transfers 1 Relations Events 21 Awards Matches History

Marked for Dries Witsel

5 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings31 Aug 2026

Nobody could get near Dries Witsel

Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match26 Aug 2026

Lokeren bow out of the cup

Racing Genk go through and Lokeren go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

The terraces31 Aug 2026

A cup hiding at Racing Genk leaves Lokeren explaining themselves

1-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.

Market31 Aug 2026

Eyes on Zinho Lukaku again

The phone has started ringing about Zinho Lukaku again, and this time the name on the line is Ajax. Lokeren are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market31 Aug 2026

Laurent Onana asks to leave Lokeren

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Lokeren

Lucas Salinas 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.

Match29 Aug 2026

Lokeren see off OH Leuven

Three points for Lokeren, 1‑0 the final word against OH Leuven in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings31 Aug 2026

Zinho Lukaku in the eights

A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Marc Aubry 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.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Yannick Castagne runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market17 Aug 2026

Lokeren turn down Racing Genk for Zinho Lukaku

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Marcus Forss gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcus Forss has just signed for Lokeren, and for once the answer mattered.

The terraces17 Aug 2026

Supporters turn on the $1.5M sale of Jason Doku

He is going to OH Leuven, the club has $1.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market17 Aug 2026

Jason Doku moves on

OH Leuven pay $1.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Dries Witsel 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.

Squad17 Aug 2026

The manager makes an example of Jason Alderweireld

“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.

Market17 Aug 2026

Werder Bremen expected to open talks for Thorgan Vertonghen

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Lokeren will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Zinho Lukaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

2 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings10 Aug 2026

Nobody could get near Zinho Lukaku

Successful dribbles: 55. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market10 Aug 2026

Hans Courtois sold, and an era ends

$15.6M from Manchester City for Hans Courtois. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.

Market10 Aug 2026

Lokeren turn down Farense for Jean-Luc Denis

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The terraces10 Aug 2026

Supporters turn on the $15.6M sale of Hans Courtois

He is going to Manchester City, the club has $15.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Dries Witsel signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dries Witsel and Lokeren agree another 5 years.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Lokeren

Jean-Luc Denis 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.

Market10 Aug 2026

Thorgan Vertonghen wants more than Lokeren are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad10 Aug 2026

No hiding place for Christian Mertens

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Mertens, and the manager let it.

Player ratings10 Aug 2026

Simon Carrasco stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.80 on the card, and the Lokeren support went home talking about one name.

In brief

1 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market3 Aug 2026

PSV come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Lokeren did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Yannick Castagne could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.39

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.39, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Nobody could get near Simon Carrasco

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market3 Aug 2026

Hans Courtois wants more than Lokeren are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Jean-Luc Denis 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hans Courtois is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The terraces3 Aug 2026

The crowd has taken to Thorgan Vertonghen

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match1 Aug 2026

Thorgan Vertonghen sends Lokeren past KV Oostende

It finished 2‑0, and it was Thorgan Vertonghen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lokeren.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

A masterclass from Thorgan Vertonghen

Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief