Wolverhampton Wanderers ace Leander Dendoncker opens up on emotional time early in career

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The Belgium international moved from a small town to Brussels club Anderlecht when he was just 14.

Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Leander Dendoncker has spoken out about his formative days as he sought to carve out a career in professional football, admitting there was some struggles that regularly brought him to tears.

The Belgium international joined Wolves on loan from Anderlecht in August – and is expected to move permanently in the summer for £12million (Birmingham Mail) – but had to wait until December 29 before he was handed his first Premier League start, which came in the game against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.

Dendoncker has since forced his way into Nuno Espirito Santo’s first team plans, starting the last five Premier League matches for the seventh-placed side and putting in impressive displays in wins over Leicester City, West Ham and Everton.

In an interview with The Guardian, the 23-year-old was asked about how he felt in the first half of the season when he was getting little game time ahead of Nuno’s switch from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2 and he replied that he merely got on with it, taking a studious approach rather than banging on the manager’s door.

Dendoncker had overcome bigger hurdles en route to where he is now, namely moving from the village of Passchendaele to the Belgian capital Brussels when he was 14, and there was a lot he had to get used to at such an early age.

“I came from a small town and went to the capital,” he said. “That was huge because the mentality is different in Brussels. It was a big cultural change. I was homesick. I called my parents three times a day just to hear their voices. I cried a lot. I’d never been away from home before but I think that made me.”

Since those days, Dendoncker has gone from strength to strength, captaining and winning trophies with Anderlecht and picking up a bronze medal at the 2018 World Cup with Belgium, and after overcoming a tricky period at Wolves, he will be hoping for just as much success at Molineux.