Marked for Mousa Witsel
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokeren lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Michy Openda breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Lokeren's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokeren has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Axel Meunier 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lokeren, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokeren lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Michy Openda out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Lokeren say no — this time
The offer from Bournemouth for Youri De Bruyne was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Hans De Ketelaere again, and this time the name on the line is Anderlecht. Lokeren are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Axel 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Youri De Bruyne. 2‑1 against Standard Liege, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Michy Openda out for 108 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokeren will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Lokeren
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Lokeren are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hans Mertens commits to Lokeren for another 2 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youri De Bruyne 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Axel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
A European night to remember for Lokeren
1‑0 against Lugano, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad9 Nov 2026
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokeren lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Dries Witsel
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youri De Bruyne 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Axel 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.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Hüseyin Ertürk has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Lokeren
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lokeren are no longer polite ones.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Lokeren game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Waasland-Beveren runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stan Naert falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Charles Tielemans 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.27, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youri De Bruyne 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Dirk Asare
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Stan Naert 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Waasland-Beveren to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokeren and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market14 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokeren know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nobody at Lokeren will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.