15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tristan Degreef. 1‑0 against KV Mechelen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Club Brugge 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.
7.93, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Anderlecht had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
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 Kompany, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutDanylo Sikan has become a man the manager trusts
Derby days make names, and Danylo Sikan made his against Standard Liege. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Anderlecht support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
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.
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
Squad16 Aug 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.
The dugout16 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 Kompany, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
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.
Paul Pogba 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 first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Racing Genk; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 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.
14 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
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.
Match31 Jul 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marco Kana wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Mario Stroeykens 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lois Castagne has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yannick Batshuayi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timothy Januzaj has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad26 Jul 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.
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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Killian Sardella trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tobias Lawal has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Anderlecht that is a harder question to answer.
KV Kortrijk did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Mihajlo Cvetković that is worth more than another season of watching from Anderlecht's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.
12 graduates, from a department now rated 15 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Anderlecht people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihajlo Cvetković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Mario Stroeykens has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“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.
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 23 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Moussa Ndiaye and Anderlecht agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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.
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 Ilay Camara is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
$2.9M was the most the club would pay and KV Kortrijk 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
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 Mario Stroeykens signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ilay Camara has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
Anderlecht asked and Westerlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 20 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.
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.
$13.5M on the table at OH Leuven. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Position 2, 63 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.
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.
Anderlecht have gone to KV Kortrijk 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.
Anderlecht offered $2.6M; Westerlo 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Paul Pogba 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.
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.
“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 Anderlecht, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 phone has started ringing about Justin Heekeren again, and this time the name on the line is Waasland-Beveren. Anderlecht are listening politely and promising nothing.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Adrián Palacios wants continental football; whether Anderlecht can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Mario Stroeykens and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danylo Sikan signs something — a contract at Anderlecht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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.
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 on the pitch nobody else can win. 20 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
Squad24 May 2027
Paul Pogba 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Position 2, 63 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 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
Paul Pogba 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.
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 Mario Stroeykens 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
90 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tobias Lawal, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Anderlecht. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
“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 went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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 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 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.
114 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihajlo Cvetković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Enric Llansana trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tobias Lawal has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Pogba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Anderlecht. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Paul Pogba 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.
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.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Justin Heekeren and Anderlecht agree another 4 years.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Cvetković 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 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.
Position 2, 63 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Pogba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tobias Lawal has written the date down.
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.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
BoardroomThe Anderlecht production line keeps running
Danylo Sikan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mihajlo Cvetković is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
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.
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 Danylo Sikan 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.
Position 2, 63 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.
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A Anderlecht teenager takes the young player award
Mihajlo Cvetković is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Colin Coosemans has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
5 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bilal Bafdili 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.
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.
Three points for Anderlecht, 1‑0 the final word against OH Leuven in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Michy Kompany kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Getting past Colin Coosemans has become the hardest job in the division
20 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
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 Feb 2027
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Anderlecht people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The fee is $2.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. KV Mechelen drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The chase for Tobe Leysen ended with $2.2M changing hands and Racing Genk out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$2.6M was the most the club would pay and KV Kortrijk 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Anderlecht close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
The unbeaten run reaches 20. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match23 Jan 2027
Paul Pogba wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Paul Pogba found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and KV Kortrijk went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Anderlecht asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$2.6M on the table at KV Kortrijk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to KV Mechelen 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.
$3.1M was the most the club would pay and Sint-Truiden 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.
$3.5M was the most the club would pay and KV Mechelen 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.
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 Paul Pogba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Tokyo have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from KAA Gent 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.
Anderlecht have gone to KV Mechelen 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.
Anderlecht have gone to Sint-Truiden 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.
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.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Danylo Sikan
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Paul Pogba 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Michy Kompany after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
10 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.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Paul Pogba 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Danylo Sikan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Anderlecht.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Danylo Sikan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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 2‑0 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michy Kompany 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.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
“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 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Paul Pogba 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Club Brugge had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Paul Pogba 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.
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.
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 Paul Pogba is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Michy Kompany after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 Paul Pogba 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.
Something was said to Coba and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Paul Pogba 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.
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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
3 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.
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.
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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
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.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Anderlecht have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Zulte Waregem will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Anderlecht were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mario Stroeykens provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Anderlecht have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Paul Pogba 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.
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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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 22-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.
Something was said to Danylo Sikan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Kompany, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutIlay Camara has become a man the manager trusts
Paul Pogba 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.
9 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.
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 Mario Stroeykens is on it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michy Kompany was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Anderlecht dressing room was either.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Léo Pétrot, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Paul Pogba 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.
Marked 8.41 — 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.
KAA Gent will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Anderlecht were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.24, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Danylo Sikan takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danylo Sikan provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilay Camara 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.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
$740.0K was the most the club would pay and Charleroi 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.
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.
Anderlecht asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 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.
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 Mario Stroeykens is on it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Anderlecht ran out of time with Kashima Antlers. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Anderlecht have gone to Charleroi 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.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Anderlecht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Pogba 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.
Anderlecht and Kashima Antlers have settled on $6.3M. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tristan Degreef did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
$4.1M was the most the club would pay and KAA Gent 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mouscron have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$6.7M was the most the club would pay and Qarabag 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.
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.
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.
Everything was agreed with KV Oostende and then the doctor spoke. Anderlecht have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
$4.9M was the most the club would pay and Mouscron 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.
Anderlecht asked and Mouscron 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 offer from Neftchi for Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
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.
The offer from AZ 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.
Anderlecht have gone to KV Oostende 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.
The offer went to Qarabag 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.
$4.1M on the table at KAA Gent. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Anderlecht support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
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.
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.
$8.4M on the table at Kashima Antlers. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fenerbahce have kept their man, and Anderlecht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Paul Pogba has just signed for Anderlecht, and for once the answer mattered.
“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.
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.