“What Jan Vertonghen said reassured me”: captain Hans Vanaken in our new podcast series about the development of Igor Thiago at Club Brugge

Igor Thiago (22) is finally getting up to speed at Club Brugge. In Jingle Balls, the Christmas special of our football podcast Sjotcast, Hans Vanaken (31) gave insight into the development of the Brazilian. “A lot of it has to do with trust.”

Wat is Jingle Balls?

In Jingle Balls Yanko Beeckman and sidekick Franky Van der Elst visit five prominent figures from the Jupiler Pro League for just as many great podcasts. From December 20 to 24 you can listen to or watch a new episode every day from 4 p.m. You can also find the interviews on the Nieuwsblad YouTube channel.

Igor Thiago has already scored sixteen times for Club Brugge this season. He did this five times from the spot, even twice against AA Gent last weekend (2-0). For a long time, Hans Vanaken was Blue-Black’s regular penalty taker. However, the captain has no problem with the fact that he is now second in the pecking order. “With Thiago we have someone who is very good at taking penalties,” Vanaken said Jingle Balls. “Last season I missed a few and I also left the penalties to other players. We work with a list. Thiago is now number one and I am number two.”

Franky Van der Elst, who also participated in the Sjotcast Christmas special, wanted to know more about the development of Thiago. “At the beginning of this season he also scored regularly, but he had an even more difficult time with the ball,” Vanaken admitted. “What you have to give him credit for is that he has worked incredibly hard from the start. He shows a lot of intensity both in competitions and in training. In this way he already did very useful work for the team. He has made some progress in the last few matches. He was indeed very strong against Ghent. At the end of last season it was announced that he would sign with us. I remember seeing Jan Vertonghen with the national team, who had played against him with Anderlecht. Jan also said that Thiago is a really solid striker who can keep a defense busy. When Jan says something like that, I find it reassuring.”

Thiago in a duel with Vertonghen during Anderlecht-Ludogorets. — © BELGIUM

According to Vanaken, it is not illogical that the Brazilian took a while to adapt. “A boy like that has to get used to the circumstances and a new culture. I can imagine that trust also matters a lot. He has always continued to make a lot of minutes and he has always scored his goals. Perhaps the fact that he can take penalties will also help and give him extra confidence. I think that is much more important than taking them yourself. That doesn’t matter that much to me.”

Van der Elst, Vanaken and our man during the recording of the Sjotcast Christmas special. — © Foto Kurt

Seven out of ten

Finally, Vanaken took some time to look back on Club’s first half of the season. “We dropped too many points in the competition. But even in those matches we were almost never inferior to the opponent. The results could therefore have turned out differently, while it could perhaps have been the other way around in recent weeks. Everyone has already dropped points, actually only Union stands out. We are working on a good series. If we get six out of six before New Year’s, we’ll be there. In Europe we are group winners and we are still in the cup. Then you are on schedule on three fronts. I would give our first round a seven out of ten.”

Publicatieschema Jingle Balls

  • December 20: Hans Vanaken
  • December 21: Charles Vanhoutte
  • December 22: Mark van Bommel
  • December 23: Hendrik Van Crombrugge
  • December 24: Hein Vanhaezebrouck

Also on YouTube

The episodes of our series Jingle Balls can be listened to every day from 4 p.m. in the app Newspaper or via your favorite podcast channel, but they will also be available with video via the Nieuwsblad YouTube channel. You can also participate in a fun giveaway via the video platform.

Listen to all episodes of Sjotcast here

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