Conor Hourihane and Emi Martinez were just a number of Aston Villa players reacting on Instagram to Bjorn Engels leaving the club and joining Royal Antwerp.
On Tuesday, Engels posted on Instagram that a ‘dream came true’ after he played with Aston Villa in the Premier League, as he thanked the club for ‘everything’ upon his exit.
In the comments section, a number of Engels teammates sent their best wishes to the defender, including the likes of Matty Cash, Morgan Sanson, Matt Targett, Hourihane, John McGinn, Kortney Hause and Ezri Konsa.
Hourihane wrote: “All the best, Bjorn”. Whilst Hause added: “Good luck bro. All the best for you and your family.” And Martinez simply wrote: “Good luck bro”.
Aston Villa’s official Twitter account posted that Engels has returned to his home country after they reached an agreement with Royal Antwerp and he completed a medical.
It’s a crying shame how Engels career at Villa ended because it started with promise during his first six months at the club.
When Villa returned to England’s top-flight, they were at their most vulnerable, with a lot of new faces coming in, lack of experience and everyone having to gel together.
That’s when Engels was partnering Tyrone Mings at the back, and the partnership looked promising, but the whole team was conceding too many goals and making too many mistakes.
He would eventually lose his place in the side, with Ezri Konsa taking the reigns, and he is now the club’s best centre-back.
Engels didn’t play a single minute in the Premier League last season, but with the players, the team and the club more stable, it would have been interesting to see how he would have performed if he got his chance.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if he does pick his career up from here on in and he is back on the road in playing for one of Europe’s top five leagues again, and perhaps representing Belgium.
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