Youri Courtois

Central Midfielder - Lokeren
29 Aug 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Youri Courtois

4 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Mouscron 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.

Market

Axel Boyata hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokeren can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Club Brugge watching Zinho De Ketelaere

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

Squad

Tempers go at Lokeren

Thomas Lukaku 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Youri Courtois

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

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Dedryck Vanaken

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.

Match

Lokeren see off Zulte Waregem

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

Squad

Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Chevalier 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.

Market

Lokeren sign Mohammed El Âdfaoui, one for the future

Mohammed El Âdfaoui is 18, and Lokeren have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

In brief

Back issues
2 Edition

The Lokeren Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Business is business: Simon Vanaken goes

Tottenham paid $34.8M and Lokeren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Market

Racing Genk 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.

Squad

Thomas Lukaku stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Lukaku and Lokeren agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Thomas Lukaku 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

Nicolas Guyot 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.

Player ratings

Youri Courtois runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

David Baron 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.

Squad

Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Witsel 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.

Player ratings

Zinho De Ketelaere takes the honours

Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Lokeren had the best player on the pitch.

In brief