It’s handshakes and cheek-kisses all round as a troop of young men come tearing into the building having returned from their run around the lake in Parc de la Pede. The Under-21 squad jaunt past a mural of a budding Romelu Lukaku and disappear into the gym.
“It was Romelu’s father who pushed us to start collaborations with schools,” says Jean Kindermans, the director of the Anderlecht academy. “At 15, Romelu was becoming famous and there was a lot of interest. His father told me: ‘Lille, Lens, Auxerre and Saint-Étienne are all interested in my son and all of those clubs can provide him with school, accommodation and football education. There’s everything.’ A few months later we started the Purple Talents Project. Now, more than 10 years later, it’s called the Purple Talent Programme – as it’s no longer a project.”
“Romelu spent an hour on finishing every morning before continuing with academic studies. We don’t like to swamp children’s minds with too much information. It’s better to work intensely for short periods of time than do the same things at a slower pace for longer. Socialising with people and having various hobbies and interests is key.”
Set on the outskirts of Brussels, the Anderlecht training centre is nestled among chalets, picturesque regional parks and educational institutes. This place has produced a list of household names, including eight of the 23 players representing Belgium at the World Cup in Russia. Lukaku, Vincent Kompany, Leander Dendoncker, Youri Tielemans, Dries Mertens, Adnan Januzaj, Michy Batshuayi and Marouane Fellaini were all developed up here. That’s more than a third of the squad and so far they have scored nine goals between them at the World Cup – two more than the Brazil squad they face in the quarter-finals.
Kindermans is naturally proud the club’s knack of spotting local talents and developing them into internationals. “We try to have the best Brussels players before we move to 11-a-side-football at Under-13. From Under-6 to Under-12 we only focus on the ones living in the local area. Depending on the character, age, culture and parents, we will look at youngsters from further away if they are extra special – but it’s very hard to tear a boy of that age from their family.”
The Under-17s are being put through their paces by coach Noureddine Moukrim. Small rondos develop into a larger possession game. Moukrim steps in to give lengthy chats to a huddle every 10 to 15 minutes. Across the complex on the Under-15s pitch, the younger group are doing a finishing exercise where wingers cut inside to deliver in-swinging crosses. The coach is becoming increasingly irked with one of the overlapping full-backs. Despite the critique, the teenager shows no expression.
“We have to deal with each kid in a different way,” says Kindermans. “We have so many diverse religions, cultures, languages and nationalities here. Every individual reacts in different ways. We adapt to each background; two feet and a healthy head make the difference here.”
“Anderlecht is the street. We are a mirror of the community. Brussels is like London, like Paris, like any big city. Multiculturalism is an advantage to us. Take Vincent Kompany, from a Belgian mother and an African father: a humble family with no fancy car, educated in the centre of Brussels. He would take a tram here and then a night bus back home late after training. He was influenced by the street.”
“Vincent’s a very clever guy. I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m convinced that he will come back here and have an important part to play. He’s a natural, born leader. You don’t need to have a master’s in psychology to know that. Even as he talks and jokes around, he’s just different. He instinctively joins people together into a group and has a huge impact wherever he goes. He has even more qualities around the pitch than he has on it.”
Kindermans could do with a commanding character such as Kompany at the minute. “I don’t like coaches that change clubs every year,” he says. “Stability is key. Our coaches are often tutored by psychologists and pedagogical teachers. There’s a mix between ex-professional players and ‘degree coaches’ here and, of course, people have their own instincts.; but it’s not enough to just have one way of thinking, you need to be a long-life-learner, a people manager, a psychologist. The real art of being a coach is to translate your ideas to players and get them to buy into your theories.”
“Children change, football changes. I make my coaches watch Champions League games and analyse matches. It’s important to surround yourself with the modern game. We used to just look for 70% ball possession, but what good is having the ball if you do nothing with it? We now work on having 70% progressive, efficient ball possession. We’ve added finishing into all sessions, otherwise we’d have the ball but lose every game 1-0. The club training philosophy is ‘Win the ball. Keep the ball. Progress. Create. Finish. Win.’ It’s a cycle we preach to everybody in the building.”
“You can lose the winning spirit if you only work on educational factors, yet it’s not good to only coach players to win. There needs to be a balance. This is why we made the cycle that creates not only great footballers, but players that are complete. If everything is done well in the build-up then you’ll win games of football.”
“We prepare to beat each opponent by utilising videos and tactics, whether it’s a ‘high-press’ or ‘spider-web press’ [when teams are invited into areas before pounced upon] but it would be crazy to emulate the style and formation of the first team as we’ve not had a manager stick around for longer than three seasons in the past 15 years!”
“Our academy has a set system of 3-4-3 that develops into a 4-3-3 at under-15 level; but we must be flexible. It depends on our strengths and weaknesses, the opponent, the period of the season and the weight of the game. Once you are 16 or 17 years old, we expect you to be winning while playing the Anderlecht way. The younger groups have a comfort zone where they’ll be in 3-4-3 shapes but players will change positions regularly. I’m not the Godfather, but I believe that creating versatile players will assist in developing intelligent, rounded human beings. If they comply, listen and work hard here, then who knows what heights they may reach?”
The sun is falling over the training centre and the Under-21s are done for the day. As they leave the gym, they chant words of encouragement to the younger players who are still suffering through strength and conditioning exercises below. Plastered across the wall behind them is a reminder: “Hard work beats talent!”
The Guardian Sport
