Will goldcrest Arthur Vermeeren still play for Antwerp after the winter break? “If we sell it, we hope to still rent it”

It is known that he can handle a ball and you saw it with his goal. But after such a world match against Barcelona you realize once again how special Arthur Vermeeren (18) is.

How intelligent he is. At one point there was some grumbling in the stands because he did not send Kerk deep, but he noticed that the wing attacker was offside and therefore slowed down – wonderful to see.

How much walking ability he has. Our in-house analyst René Vandereycken mentioned it and it is not a lie. In the entire group stage he covered 73 kilometers (12.2 km per match) and only seven players did better: Falk (FC Copenhagen), Aursnes (Benfica), Bidstrup (RB Salzburg), Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Eustaquio (FC Porto), Lerager (FC Copenhagen) and Neves (Benfica).

How much volume it has. It was already his 57th match in 2023 and he was on the field for a total of 5,560 minutes, including international matches with (young) Belgium. This puts him firmly in the top 10 in Europe.

No matter how self-critical he is. Afterwards he was beaming with the man of the match trophy, but he admitted that he had stupidly lost the ball at 1-1.

Vermeeren received the trophy for man of the match. — © Isosport

And we discussed a fifth point with his coach: his versatility. Or don’t you think it’s great that Vermeeren played as an offensive midfielder for the first time and immediately reached such a high level?

“We normally play Arthur lower, because he is also strong defensively,” said Mark van Bommel. “But yeah, just say it. (smiles) He can do it all. He can handle all positions. The six, the eight, the ten. Everywhere he makes it look easy. He sees it and he can implement it. That is not learned, that is nature. I even think he could play at centre-back. For a trainer, this is simply a very nice player to have.”

Rich clubs

The only question is: how long will Van Bommel have him? The Dutchman is realistic. “He’ll be gone by the summer, I think. We are going to try to keep him here after the winter break, in whatever construction. But this cannot be stopped.”

We would like to ask Sven Jaecques the same question. The CEO was a guest after the stunt victory against Barça From Sjotka and in it he provides an insight into the state of affairs surrounding Vermeeren.

“We already had conversations in August that became more and more concrete, but at that time we still felt that we could push it past the deadline,” says Jaecques. “But after what he has done now, in the league but especially in the Champions League, you know that something can happen. It becomes even more concrete.”

“Together with Marc Overmars, I am in discussions with a number of clubs and they are not small clubs, they are clubs that can act quickly if necessary. Those who have the financial capabilities and who can give Arthur a sporting plan. The latter is also very important, because Arthur is not someone who will just choose any team. The picture has to be right for him and his entourage. If that is not correct, he will not accept it, even if it is the highest offer for Antwerp.”

Stable in his head

So it will be an exciting month of January. Will Antwerp be able to push a transfer past the deadline once again or will Vermeeren be offered a record amount? Jaecques: “We are doing everything we can to ensure that Arthur can finish the season here, if necessary by selling him and then renting him until the end of June. So we are not going to push ourselves, we are not going to enter the market with him ourselves. But we do take into account that something can happen. If everything goes well, both for him and for us, a transfer could happen.”

Vermeeren celebrates his goal with the fans. — © BELGIUM

In the meantime, Vermeeren must try to remain calm about it. “But he is very stable in his head, he is incredibly mature. As a result, even in a lesser match, he never drops below the lower limit. He just has to look ahead and move on. And don’t focus too much on the media, because when you read all that about yourself…

Our apologies for all the praise, but once again: after such a world match against Barcelona you realize once again how special Arthur Vermeeren is.

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