Bart Verbruggen is destined to become one of the ‘top five goalkeepers in the world’ as Premier League newcomers Burnley battle Liverpool and Manchester United for the Anderlecht star.
It is easy to forget that Verbruggen has only been playing first team football for around four months. Even at the age of just 20, the Netherlands youth star carries himself as if he’s been around for years, such is the maturity and the confidence with which he commands his penalty area.
Verbruggen kept clean sheets in six straight games recently. His penalty-saving brilliance knocked Ludogorets out of the UEFA Conference League too, Verbruggen producing another virtuoso display in the last-16 against Villarreal.
The youngster’s remarkable reflexes have reportedly caught the eye of both Liverpool and a Manchester United side in the market for a long-term David de Gea replacement.
Liverpool, Man United and Burnley like Bart Verbruggen
KV Westerlo striker Tuur Dierckx, who failed to find a way past Verbruggen during a goalless draw earlier this month, believes the £15 million-rated glovesman is destined to reach the very pinnacle of the world game.
“At Anderlecht there was one player on the field who was two or three classes better than the rest. Verbruggen is not normal,” Dierckx tells 90 Minutes.
“He will be among the top five in the world. And I mean that seriously. He has everything to become that.”
Burnley came close to signing Verbruggen – who was handed his first-team debut by Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht – during the summer of 2022. The Clarets remain interested, according to The Sun.
Kompany is a graduate of the Pep Guardiola school of tactics. In his system, a goalkeeper must be not only the last line of defence but also the first line of attack. It should come as no surprise, then, that Verbruggen is as renowned for his distribution as he is his shot-stopping.
“He plays as ‘number ten’ from the back,” Dierckx adds. “His passing, that is also not normal. I was really impressed by Verbruggen.”
Can Burnley still sign Bart Verbruggen?
Some pundits, however, believe that the ship has sailed as far as Burnley are concerned, even if Kompany did lead the Clarets back to the Premier League last week.
“He is simply unstoppable,” former Netherlands goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus tells Rondo. “This is (former Liverpool ace) Sander Westerveld, but even better. He was also a keeper who had everything. The body, physicality.
“That, Bart has too, only Bart is even better. Verbruggen has the peaceful mindset. If you talk to him, he is not a 20-year-old boy. He’s an adult guy. He knows exactly what he wants. I think he is already the best Dutch keeper at the moment, yes.
“He won’t go there (to Burnley) anymore.”
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