Leander Dendoncker

RedMachine03

Poster of Articles
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
12,448
Location
Australia
Manchester United will tomorrow send a scout to the game between Antwerp and Anderlecht, according to reports in the Belgian media. It’s been claimed the Premier League side will be casting an eye over Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendoncker.

De Morgen have confirmed Manchester United are on the scouting list for tomorrow’s Jupiler League season opener, and they will be joined by AC Milan and RB Leipzig. It’s been reported all three clubs will be monitoring Dendoncker, after the youngster impressed for Anderlecht last season.

The Belgian website says 22 year old Dendoncker is high on Jose Mourinho’s wanted list, and the Manchester United boss saw the player close up last season. The young Belgian was part of the Anderlecht side which faced the English club in the Europa League quarter finals, and Dendoncker chipped in with a goal at Old Trafford.

However, Dendoncker will not come cheap with reports Manchester United would have to offer in the region of €38m for the player.

Manchester United repeatedly scouted Anderlecht last season, even before the clubs were drawn together in the Europa League, and after the match had taken place, so the visit is nothing new.

Given Mourinho has been considering Nemanja Matic for the defensive midfield position, to then turn the Belgian youngster would be a huge change of plan. The frequent scouting from Manchester United, even prior to last season, would suggest the interest is general rather than restricted to Dendoncker.

Should the Old Trafford club want to make a move, it’s almost certain they’d look to pay much less than €38m.

http://sportwitness.co.uk/manchester-united-will-tomorrow-send-official-e38m-central-midfielder/
 
what type of player is he? I've heard people talk about him before but never really paid attention to him, could be smart to have a young understudy even if we sign Matic.
 
He had a great season by all accounts, and impressed when I saw him.
 
Ballache said:
what type of player is he? I've heard people talk about him before but never really paid attention to him, could be smart to have a young understudy even if we sign Matic.
Click to expand...
Versatile all-action midfielder. Can play as a box-to-box or a DM. Very tall, very physical, quite mobile. I think he even pitched in at CB once or twice for Anderlecht.
 
Was excellent against us. Apart from that barely know his game.
 
If we were serious about signing him this summer, I doubt we'd still be scouting.
 
More than held his own against us in those 2 games, but aside that have seen very little of him. Be good if someone who has a lot more know leg about him could put up some feedback.
 
I don't see how he would cost 38m since they just sold Tielemans, a clearly better player, for 25m.
 
I'd be happy with this - he really impressed me against us last season, he's a great age, European experience, seems a level-headed player.

Plus, he'd be a lot cheaper than Matic. I hope there's something in this, would be a nice surprise.
 
Cassidy said:
If we were serious about signing him this summer, I doubt we'd still be scouting.
Click to expand...
I guess it depends on the availability of other targets and how serious Anderlecht are about selling him at this stage of the summer. I might've imagined this but I seem to remember us scouting Martial into August in the summer we signed him, though that deal did also hinge on whether or not Monaco qualified for the Champions League that season.

I could definitely get on board with this signing though. The potential is there and his style is certainly easier on the eye than a pure destroyer like Dier or Matic.
 
More like the fact the our scouts enjoy the hospitality at Anderlecht games similar to Benfica considering the amount of times they have scouted them. :lol::lol:

Im sure if we don't want to spend £40 Million on Matic that we will have an issue buying a younger cheaper alternative who we have been scouting for ages by all accounts.

Cassidy said:
If we were serious about signing him this summer, I doubt we'd still be scouting.
Click to expand...

Exactly. You would think we would be at the ''preparing a bid'' stage instead of ''scouting'' if we had any intent. :lol:
 
Send scouts now? I'm sure they already have seen this guys plenty of times, or else I'm seriously worried...
 
settembrini said:
I don't see how he would cost 38m since they just sold Tielemans, a clearly better player, for 25m.
Click to expand...

Anderlecht had an agreement with Tielemans he could leave. They are desperate to keep hold of Dendoncker for other season, hence the crazy price. They'd sell for 25 m € though, I think.
 
This rumour just makes me wonder why we didn't take a punt on Tielemans, 25m for a highly talented young midfielder looks like a bargain in this market. Monaco will probably sell for 65m in 2 years.
 
Castia said:
This rumour just makes me wonder why we didn't take a punt on Tielemans, 25m for a highly talented young midfielder looks like a bargain in this market. Monaco will probably sell for 65m in 2 years.
Click to expand...
Looks like Jose values height in the defensive midfielder position. All players we've been linked to there are tall. Tielemans is short.
 
Castia said:
This rumour just makes me wonder why we didn't take a punt on Tielemans, 25m for a highly talented young midfielder looks like a bargain in this market. Monaco will probably sell for 65m in 2 years.
Click to expand...

Dendoncker was the better player over both legs though. Granted there's an age difference but why take a punt on a player who isn't ready when we can take a player who does look ready?
 
Castia said:
This rumour just makes me wonder why we didn't take a punt on Tielemans, 25m for a highly talented young midfielder looks like a bargain in this market. Monaco will probably sell for 65m in 2 years.
Click to expand...
Firstly he isn't a player who fits the targeted type: he's a playmaker/attacking CM, something like Andreas Pereira with less mobility but more in terms of tempo/passing to control a game.

Secondly, he is a player with sky-high potential but he needs consistent football to achieve it - at most, he'd be have been a rotational option here for the next few years. In a vacuum it's easy for us to question why the big teams like ourselves don't cut out the middle-men type clubs like Monaco, but they are just as necessary to work as an intermediate step for the players.

Dendoncker is a little different, his game is already tailor-made to suit the Premier League. In some ways he's quite similar to Wilfred Ndidi who just arrived from Genk - another Belgian side in January - and was probably Leicester's player of 2017.
 
Castia said:
This rumour just makes me wonder why we didn't take a punt on Tielemans, 25m for a highly talented young midfielder looks like a bargain in this market. Monaco will probably sell for 65m in 2 years.
Click to expand...


Ive said this a few times on here, I think Tielemans is going to be the midfielder everyone wants in a couple of years, him and Saul. Reckon we should've recruited him, especially for 25m.
 
Castia said:
This rumour just makes me wonder why we didn't take a punt on Tielemans, 25m for a highly talented young midfielder looks like a bargain in this market. Monaco will probably sell for 65m in 2 years.
Click to expand...
I've seen some Anderlecht fans on Reddit say that he's very versatile, was their best player last season and has an amazing engine, played 90 minutes of every game they played or something. If any of that's true I can certainly see why Mourinho might be a fan.
 
Lets be fair, he does have the best name in football.

Leander sounds like a wonderful past time ("Oh I'm just off for a spot of Leandering") and as said before, Dendoncker sounds like an insult, you massive Dendoncker

Make it happen Woody.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Lets be fair, he does have the best name in football.

Leander sounds like a wonderful past time ("Oh I'm just off for a spot of Leandering") and as said before, Dendoncker sounds like an insult, you massive Dendoncker

Make it happen Woody.
Click to expand...

:lol: Brilliant, I now want this player for those reasons alone. :D

In fairness I though he was excellent against us last season but admittedly that's all I've seen of him. Sounds promising from some of the other posts in here and so on, interesting.
 
Ballache said:
what type of player is he? I've heard people talk about him before but never really paid attention to him, could be smart to have a young understudy even if we sign Matic.
Click to expand...
He's comparable to someone like Eric Dier in physical terms, but with better composure and long range distribution on the ball - not quite Weigl level, but maybe Gareth Barry, IMO. At face value, there's a lot to like about Dendoncker in a Mourinho team because he has a lot of tools to emerge as a quality player in front of the defense - he can play as a holding midfielder or centerback or defensive box-to-box, quite robust and gritty and aerially proficient, and is fairly mature in his style of play with decent workrate. Will definitely benefit from the presence of Carrick - who's one of the better players over the last decade when it comes to screening the backline on-and-off the ball. However, with players from smaller domestic leagues, you always run the risk of them looking like a fish out of water on the bigger stage on a week-to-week basis, particularly when we can't gauge how he is upstairs (a lot of them just can't adjust to the scrutiny at United or José's stern demands from a mental perspective - even those that were signed by him). That, and I'm not sure how he'll progress on a purely technical level on the ball because there's scope to be more efficient and intelligent. It might be better for Dendoncker to join a Top 8 team before transitioning to a bigger club, so he's more prepared and experienced for the demands. Then again, the way the market is progressing, a refined version of him would likely cost £70 million in 2 years' time. :nervous:
 
DWelbz19 said:
Firstly he isn't a player who fits the targeted type: he's a playmaker/attacking CM, something like Andreas Pereira with less mobility but more in terms of tempo/passing to control a game.
Click to expand...
Sounds a bit like Carrick then. He's got height to match Carrick too.
 
I like him. Was very impressed with him when they played us,more so than Tielemans.
 
This is the sort of signing I'd like to see us make for around £15 million in the bracket of being a bit of a gamble. Problem is, you can't buy at those kinds of prices any more.

Even as a gamble signing we'd be looking at £30 million.
 
GaryLifo said:
This is the sort of signing I'd like to see us make for around £15 million in the bracket of being a bit of a gamble. Problem is, you can't buy at those kinds of prices any more.

Even as a gamble signing we'd be looking at £30 million.
Click to expand...

tbf £30 million seems to be the new £10 million punt you take on a talented young player nowadays.
 
I'd like this signing. Some Anderlecht fans rate him as their best player last season too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.