Leeds, West Ham, and Wolves are interested in the “next Vincent Kompany.”
Meet Koni De Winter, the next Belgian defender tipped for a Premier League transfer currently playing under an Arsenal legend in Italy
It began with a Philippe Albert chip that left St. James’ Park in a state of shock,
progressed through a Golden Generation of players who could and ought to have won a lot more,
and ended with the many contemporary talents who are currently playing all over the Premier League.
Little Belgium, a nation with a population little larger than Greater London,
has had a significant influence on the Premier League’s rise to prominence.
Central defenders have been among the most successful Belgians to visit our shores.
Vincent Kompany has a statue outside the Etihad Stadium.
There was a time when Tottenham’s central defense partnership,
in the prime Mauricio Pochettino years, was 100 per cent Flemish in Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen.
All long after Albert helped construct one of the most entertaining sides in recent memory.
Premier League teams are still eager to shop at the same store, so even if Belgium’s greatest team
ever has either hung up their boots or is almost done,
their focus is shifting to the next generation of players.
West Ham, Leeds, and Wolves have already expressed interest in one adaptable young defender, and with good reason:
“I’ve always been told that I play like Vincent Kompany,” Koni De Winter tells
The i Paper from the training base of his current team, Genoa. ”
I have the same technical side and can make runs with the ball like he did.
It’s a really big name, so I hope to be able to live up to him someday.
You look at the other big names (former Belgian Premier League defenders), and it is only fair that they ended up in the best competitions.”
With so many fellow compatriots on TV from Premier League stadiums, particularly those of African descent, as many well-known Belgian internationals are, it was impossible for a young De Winter to sit at home and not pick a side.
“I like so much the way he is close to all the players,” De Winter says of Patrick Vieira,
who took over as Genoa manager in November, 18 months after Alberto Gilardino’s disappointing tenure at Crystal Palace.
“I just like the bond we have. I can tell him everything, he can tell me everything, there’s no hesitation to talk about stuff,”
he says of the Premier League legend who is currently molding De Winter
the football player in Genoa. Didier Drogba and Jose Mourinho’s championship-winning Chelsea team won the match.
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