One man’s misery, as they say, is another fortune.
And Hendrick van Crombrugge may already be rueing the bout of illness which kept him out of Anderlecht’s 1-0 away win at RSC Cherleroi on Boxing Day. The Belgium international was only supposed to miss one game.
Instead, his spell out of the starting XI has now lasted six weeks, with no real end sight. A superb performance from 20-year-old Bart Verburggen in Van Crombrugge’s absence at Charleroi earned the youngster a prolonged run in the first-team. And, with clean sheets in each of his last three Jupiler League games, the hitherto understudy will now take some shifting.
Verbruggen was always seen as the goalkeeper of the future at Anderlecht. Now, that future might have just arrived.
“It was not easy to push Hendrik Van Crombrugge aside,” Het Nieuwsblad explain.
“However, (coach) Brian Riemer’s choice for Bart Verbruggen turned out very well. The 20-year-old kept a clean sheet against Charleroi, Seraing, Antwerp and KV Oostende, due to some very good reflexes.”
Anderlecht’s Hendrik van Crombrugge rejected Nottingham Forest
Over the last six months or so, both Verbruggen and Van Crombrugge saw potential moves to the Premier League fall through. Albeit for very different reasons.
Verbruggen could have joined Burnley for £4.5 million in the summer, only for an issue with his work permit to derail the deal. It was Van Crombrugge himself, however, who opted against putting pen to paper with Nottingham Forest during the January window.
“Hendrik chose not to go to the Premier League,” explains Anderlecht CEO Jesper Fredberg (LDH).
“As managers, we can try to find solutions, but we cannot decide for the players. That’s just how it is. Hendrik is a good boy, and we are happy with him as a keeper.”
Just over a month ago, Van Crombrugge was pretty much the first name on Anderlecht’s team sheet. Their captain, their go-to glovesman, and a leader on and off the pitch. Now, usurped by a man almost a decade his junior, Van Crombrugge suddenly finds himself in a very unfamiliar position.
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