Recent content by mista john

It was Defour's first game for Anderlecht against Standard, he joined Anderlecht in the summer after disappointing spell at Porto. He had been Standard's captain at 19 and somewhat of a legend - hence the rather unfortunate banner (Friday the 13th character holding a sword and Defour's head)...

Be careful - Gent and Racing Genk are different clubs, both are in the so-called 'big five' in Belgium; along with Anderlecht, Standard Liege and Club Brugge. Genk currently coached by Alex McCleish. Also, the story so far is that United want to bring S. American players into Europe (to Gent) on...

There have been reports in the Belgian (Flemish) media - Het Laatste Nieuws - that United are in exploratory talks with Belgian club AA Gent (Ghent in English) over a strategic loan partnership for South American players. Gent have a state-of-the are ground and are currently third in the Belgian...

I mean he would really like to get the link functioning again, as in days of Higginbotham, O'Shea, Frazier, Evans, Bardsley etc.

Gunther Hofmans, who runs Royal Antwerp these days, is not at all happy with the terrible season the club is experiencing. Hofmans said 80% of players will be leaving Royal Antwerp and that includes John Cofie returning to Manchester United. Bojan Djordjic (ex Manchester United and others) has...

And here's a later piece on why Belgium did not qualify for Euros - http://belgofoot.squarespace.com/journal/2011/9/3/10-reasons-why-belgium-will-not-be-going-to-the-euro-2012-fi.html

Here's a piece I wrote in December 2010 with my thoughts on how the Belgian explosion happened, but I did not go as far as current crop of 15-16 year-olds. http://belgofoot.squarespace.com/journal/2010/12/20/young-gifted-and-belgian.html

No have not seen him.

Antwerp have blown promotion hopes. Not much more to say.

Belgian media reporting interest of United in Anderlecht (ex Standard) striker David Henen, aged 15, soon to be 16. Also reports he has visited Carrington. Good background piece here -...

Andreas Pereira's dad has told Het Nieuwsblad that his son hopes to be playing in the United first team within two years. Pereira was playing in midfield (in training) with Paul Scholes last week and with Rooney up front (HNB). Pereira played for Belgium U16s on Monday (lost 1-0 to Ukraine) and...

Bojan Djordjic has joined Royal Antwerp. Once very promising at United. Was recently released by Blackpool. Antwerp is his 11th club.

I understand Andreas Pereira was due to sign for United on January 1st when he reached 16. His father Marcos is Brazilian and is 36, younger than Ryan Giggs. Marcos played for several Belgian clubs including Sint Truiden and Royal Antwerp. Andreas is a Belgian national and plays for U16 national...

Reports in Belgium say that Oliver Norwood will join John Cofie at Royal Antwerp. Norwood watched Antwerp lose last weekend.

Cofie played on Sunday but Antwerp lost 2-1 at lowly Sint Niklaas. He tweeted later he can never sleep after a bad result.