Leander Dendoncker says it feels like coming ‘home’ after the Aston Villa midfielder joined Anderlecht before the transfer deadline last month. Dendoncker has two years remaining on his Villa deal but wasn’t close to challenging his midfield counterparts for a place in Unai Emery’s side this season and was permitted a departure.
Anderlecht means a return to Belgium for international Dendoncker, and also specifically a return to his boyhood club, where he came through the ranks before first moving over to England when he joined Wolves in 2018.
“It feels very special to return to RSC Anderlecht,” says Dendoncker. “I played here from the age of 14 to 23, so this is really my home. It also feels like a great moment to take this step and help the club achieve its goals this season. I can’t wait to be back on the pitch and I’m looking forward to seeing the fans again.”
Anderlecht CEO Jesper Fredberg added: “We are very happy to welcome Leander back to the club. With Leander, we are bringing in someone with Premier League experience, who knows the club, fits in well with our project and most importantly he has the ambition to achieve a lot with us. I am sure that this will be a great adventure for both Leander and the club.”
Speaking of Villa players who have returned to their native countries on loan deals, Philippe Coutinho has headed back to Brazil – although he has endured a rather miserable time with Vasco da Gama. Coutinho, who has been on loan previously in Qatar, also has a couple of years left on his Villa deal.
The playmaker joined Vasco back in July, but he has only played four games in total since, and not at all in over a month bcause of a combination of injury and Covid. His manager, Rafael Paiva, has seen him return to training recently but he has opted against selecting Coutinho for now as he builds himself back up.
“Coutinho really wants to play,” Paiva said. “He has been feeling the pain of being out. He knows he has the enormous capacity to contribute to us. We need to be careful. There is no point in rushing the process. He has to be 100%.
“We have two training sessions to make this decision. It depends on how he responds. He is not lacking in desire. He is not lacking in ability either, he will help us a lot. We have to try not to rush this stage so as not to lose him. We have to be patient.”
Villa also loaned out three players who actually only arrived at the club themselves this past summer; both Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea arrived from Juventus as part of the deal that took Douglas Luiz to Turin, but neither player featured in the squad in the opening weeks of the season.
It was decided, then, that the pair could be made available for loan moves. Iling-Junior, who was quickly reunited with Morgan Rogers in the England under 21s this international break, joined Bologna and will make a swift return to Villa Park when the two clubs meet in the Champions League. Barrenechea, meanwhile, headed to Spain and to Valencia.
The third player to join and head back out of the door quickly was Lewis Dobbin , who by comparison made a particularly short journey down the road to West Brom. Dobbin joined from Everton in the summer but was permitted a loan in the hope he could build up some minutes in the Championship. Albion boss Carlos Corberan, who is friends with Emery, discussed the potential of borrowing Dobbin before the clubs agreed an arrangement.
“I was talking with Unai about him – there was always the possibility that they would develop the player,” Corberan said. “It was understood he needed to go to the Championship to work and play, to develop. Every player we receive on loan, we try our best to develop the player.”
One more senior player who left Villa last month was Alex Moreno , who remained in the Premier League and in the Midlands, with Nottingham Forest. Moreno made his debut in their EFL Cup defeat, on penalties, to Newcastle United, before the break but was an unused substitute in their Premier League draw with Wolves.
Their chief football officer Ross Wilson said: “Alex is a player we have had a long-standing interest in so we are naturally all very happy to see him arrive at Nottingham Forest. He has amassed significant experience in La Liga and the Premier League, and he brings all of that quality and experience to our group now.”
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