Peeters: "School more important than football"

The weekly magazine of Het Nieuwsblad, Fan!, went to visit Neerpede and followed René Peeters, coach of Anderlecht U21. The coach tells the training facility of Neerpede means a lot to the club.


Because the A-squad now also practises in Neerpede, and not longer in the stadium, the physical distance between the A-squad and the youth teams like U21 became shorter. Now they share the dressing rooms and some players of the U21 sometimes practise together with the A-squad.

Romelu Lukaku was the first exponent for the Purple Talents project. It's a collaboration between the club and several local schools. Because school is more important than football to the club. Because of a better collaboration, the practises have improved which means it's easier for the young players to join the U21.
"The flaws of the players are gone by the time they come to me", says Peeters.

Also parents are involved in this project, concerning nutrition. Because Neerpede doesn't like to have players with some overweight. That's why the youth department of the club contacts the parents a lot. "The parents are in control of the player when they are not here", says the coach who thinks this is called the "invisible preparation".

Peeters doesn't like to tell who the upcoming talents are, because he thinks it's hard to predict like the situation of Massimo Bruno for instance. "He still played for the U21 during the season of his breakthrough, but started to play at a higher level. Only at the end of that season, Peeter knew Bruno was capable to join the A-squad. "At first, no one thought he could join the A-squad."

The day that Fan! visited Neerpede, the U21 had to play their first league match of the season against KV Mechelen. There were many Dutch scouts with their notebooks on the stands. But they closed their notebooks when Nabil Jaadi got substituted in the 70th minute.