It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anthony Martial wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Standard Liege next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Martial 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mario Stroeykens 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.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Ilay Camara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Anderlecht hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Position 8, 24 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Anderlecht heard it as anything else.
Danylo Sikan 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Anderlecht told Tristan Degreef something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutDanylo Sikan has become a man the manager trusts
SquadMehdi Bourabia falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Martial 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Michy Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match16 Oct 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Anderlecht. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Samed Baždar 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michy Meunier on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadMehdi Bourabia falls out with a teammate over standards
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Anderlecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mario Stroeykens and Anderlecht agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Danylo Sikan 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samed Baždar wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Anderlecht can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tristan Degreef. 1‑0 against Charleroi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A brace, and Danylo Sikan takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danylo Sikan provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thorgan Nainggolan did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anthony Martial wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
At 21 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mohamed Ouédraogo has, at Anderlecht, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Martial 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.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 40. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Anderlecht close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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.
Danylo Sikan 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 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thorgan Nainggolan, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Bourabia 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Club Brugge on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Michy Meunier, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Beaten 0‑1 by Standard Liege in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wrexham have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout16 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Michy Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Moussa Ndiaye
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Danylo Sikan 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 fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Anderlecht will be judged on one thing only.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxime Lestienne and Anderlecht agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Bourabia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Anderlecht hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.43 — 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The fee is $5.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Racing Genk drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Anderlecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
KAA Gent have accepted the money. What Anderlecht do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Anderlecht can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Anderlecht
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Anderlecht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Anderlecht and Racing Genk have settled on $5.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Bourabia 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.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Danylo Sikan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Martial was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Thorgan Nainggolan has, at Anderlecht, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kevin Carrasco is 15, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
10 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Danylo Sikan is on it.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Anderlecht and KV Oostende have settled on $8.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anthony Martial signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Anderlecht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Danylo Sikan
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Anderlecht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The fee is $14.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sint-Truiden drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Samed Baždar was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $14.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Danylo Sikan 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 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Colin Coosemans is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Anderlecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Anderlecht would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$14.1M on the table at Sint-Truiden. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Anderlecht heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mihajlo Cvetković and Anderlecht agree another 5 years.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Martial is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathys Angély was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Anderlecht will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Colin Coosemans, on 17 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ilay Camara is on it.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Anderlecht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Danylo Sikan 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Bourabia 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Colin Coosemans is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Anderlecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Danylo Sikan is on it.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathys Angély 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.
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Anderlecht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Anderlecht will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I watch every Anderlecht game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zulte Waregem runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Martial is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Hey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Hey 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Anderlecht will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Anderlecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Anderlecht has been clear about where Mehdi Bourabia stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathys Angély was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Anderlecht will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Hey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mario Stroeykens signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Anderlecht will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Martial is on it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Danylo Sikan 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathys Angély 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Anderlecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Anderlecht will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 2, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Colin Coosemans is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Hey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1‑2 against Espanyol, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Michy Meunier to a room that had heard them before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anthony Martial and Anderlecht agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Bourabia 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Martial is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Munir Mohand trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Anderlecht will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Anderlecht heard it as anything else.
Danylo Sikan 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.
“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 Anderlecht know it.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Anderlecht now know that too.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Anderlecht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1‑1 against Espanyol, 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Colin Coosemans: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario Stroeykens and Anderlecht agree another 5 years.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Munir Mohand, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Bourabia 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Danylo Sikan is on it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Michy Meunier chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Anderlecht is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Anthony Martial’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Anderlecht.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Anthony Martial was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
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.
The offer went to OH Leuven this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Danylo Sikan 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Anderlecht 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.
It needed Ilay Camara to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mouscron, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Hey 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.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and KV Kortrijk had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Anderlecht did not stop to explain themselves.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Anderlecht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Anderlecht offered $66.0M; Everton said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The offer from Olympique de Marseille for Mario Stroeykens 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 ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Danylo Sikan takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danylo Sikan provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
KAA Gent paid $5.2M and Anderlecht took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
$2.1M on the table at KV Mechelen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Anderlecht asked and OH Leuven said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The first defeat in 21 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against KAA Gent; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
$5.0M was the most the club would pay and Waasland-Beveren were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A conversation is coming this week. Anderlecht will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adriano Bertaccini 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Anderlecht can pretend not to have heard.
Anderlecht have gone to Waasland-Beveren with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Anderlecht have had the benefit of it.
Danylo Sikan 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.
Add another name to the list: Racing Genk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mihajlo Cvetković. The answer from Anderlecht has not changed — yet.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Danylo Sikan. 1‑0 against Charleroi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsDanylo Sikan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Anderlecht know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Danylo Sikan will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Anderlecht escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Danylo Sikan takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danylo Sikan provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adriano Bertaccini 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.
5‑0 against Cherno More, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.41 — 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Anderlecht heard it as anything else.
Danylo Sikan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adriano Bertaccini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Anderlecht will try not to make too much of it.
Successful dribbles: 45. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anthony Modeste provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 14 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Tristan Degreef, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.18
A mark of 8.18 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
12 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Anderlecht supporters have already started telling it.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Roméo Amané
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adriano Bertaccini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Standard Liege next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
1‑0 against Legia, 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Mario Stroeykens 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.
Marked 7.81. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
At 23 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.
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Tristan Degreef, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Mario Stroeykens and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Anderlecht know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
OH Leuven made Anderlecht work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tristan Degreef is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Anderlecht will try very hard not to make too much of it.
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Mihajlo Cvetković scored in the 89th minute, Zulte Waregem had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Anderlecht took the lot.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.56, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Anderlecht. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tristan Degreef provided it, and the 8.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mihajlo Cvetković did not need any: 8.52, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Bourabia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Squad13 new faces, and Anderlecht are still learning each other
6‑0 against Cherno More, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anthony Martial provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Anderlecht and Cherno More in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A brace, and Danylo Sikan takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danylo Sikan provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Andrew Omobamidele 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 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.
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Munir Mohand
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michy Meunier on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ilay Camara is on it.
0‑1 away to the standard of Bologna. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Andrew Omobamidele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mario Stroeykens will call it something else in private.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Bourabia 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 Michy Meunier left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Anderlecht are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anthony Martial provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Anderlecht hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Danylo Sikan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Federico Bicoro has, at Anderlecht, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tristan Degreef did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
1‑0 against Club Brugge, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
The offer from Westerlo for Ali Maamar 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.
Andrew Omobamidele and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adriano Bertaccini 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anthony Martial wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 47. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Oostende have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Ilay Camara again, and this time the name on the line is Olympique de Marseille. Anderlecht are listening politely and promising nothing.
$800.0K on the table at Charleroi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adriano Bertaccini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Anderlecht and a story that will outlast his contract.
Andrew Omobamidele 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Batshuayi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kevin Carrasco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The bid was some way short and Anderlecht did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Mario Stroeykens, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.12
A mark of 8.12 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Colin Coosemans and Anderlecht agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Anderlecht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mario Stroeykens 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mihajlo Cvetković had Anderlecht level again within 1 minutes, and Racing Genk never got to play with a lead at all.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Anderlecht will be judged on one thing only.