The arrival of Happy Mazzu is a golden opportunity to start from scratch. In pre-season, coach Carolo is working wide to find the right combination in the two attacking midfield positions in his 3-5-2. But El Hadj passes in the background, blocked by two competitors. Lior Refaelov impresses the coach with his professionalism and accuracy despite his 36 years, while Verschaeren seems sharp from the internship in the Netherlands in July. “There is something that escapes me in Anderlecht politics. I have nothing against Refaelov, who is a very good player, but when you have quality trained at home, you still have to give him an opportunity, especially if the boy has already proven in the past that he has the level for Sporting. You can’t talk about competition if the player doesn’t have the space to express himself.” Indeed, El Hadj does not appear in the selection during the first league matches and receives only one opportunity to shine: in Paide, in Estonia, for a qualifying match for the Conference League, where he struggles to show himself. convincing despite his 80 minutes worked.
You also have to be able to understand his reaction.
Because he already knew he was condemned to play with the RSCA Futures? “Anderlecht broke it mentally”this Jbari. “Two years ago, the boy was seen as a great talent in Belgian football and today he is condemned to play in a lower division. It must be incomprehensible for him. We can deplore the fact that he is not not go to play this Challenger Pro League game, but on the other hand you also have to be able to understand his reaction.”
Since the induction of the U23 teams into the Challenger Pro League, Anderlecht has made it a point of honor to present a competitive workforce. Julien Duranville, Antoine Colassin, Lucas License, Noah Believe me, there is no shortage of promising names and the results attest to this: with 4 out of 6, the RSCA Futures is… at the top of the Challenger Pro League. At present, the player agrees to train with the core B. But for how long? Anderlecht does not want to give him up but cannot guarantee him a place in the squad. It remains for the parties to find a way out of the impasse.