Club Brugge plays a high game with its own goldcrest

It was with a heavy heart. Despite the great belief in the footballing defender, Club Brugge could not guarantee the young Siemen Voet any chances of playing at the first team. In the past summer, Voet was loaned to KV Mechelen and he is already making his mark there in a short time. For example, there is a very good chance that Voet will no longer be under contract with Club next season, because Malinwa could enforce a purchase option in the rental deal.

ASTER, ISSA EN SIEMEN

Last Saturday morning, Siemen Voet received an important message from his coach Wouter Vrancken. Defenders Rocky Bushiri (positive corona test) and Thibault Peyre (illness) both failed the competition match against KV Kortrijk. That match already took place on Saturday evening, so that the 20-year-old Voet could prepare himself for two important debuts. Against the Kortrijkzanen, it became his first minutes of play as an employee at KV Mechelen, but also at the highest Belgian football level. And Voet immediately made himself heard.

After a sober but very solid first half, the debutant managed to score the opening goal in minute 53. Malinwa was heading for a golden three-pointer and Siemen Voet made a dream debut, but after the exclusion of Issa Kaboré, KV Kortrijk was able to turn the 1-0 deficit to a 1-2 end result. A damper on the joy at Voet, and a new deception for KV Mechelen.

“It is nice for Siemen that he makes that goal”, Wouter Vrancken evaluated the noticed performance of his young defender in the Mechelen press room after the match. “He really worked his way up and took his chance.” Gazet van Antwerpen was also able to get a strong quote from Vrancken. “Siemen fits in the list of Aster (Vranckx, ed.) And Issa (Kaboré, ed.): Very eager to learn and fun to work with.”

STRONG AT ROESELARE

Siemen Voet’s first playground already tastes like more. Although he only started peeping into the Jupiler Pro League at the age of 20, the defender’s potential and qualities have been known for much longer. Voet was a key figure in Club Brugge’s promises in recent years, but in the summer of 2019 it became clear that he had learned something there. The step was still a bit too big to grow into Club Brugge’s first team, so a temporary solution presented itself at KSV Roeselare in 1B. And there he performed very well, where especially his strong points stood out.

Voet has good feet – no pun intended -, a tight tackle and considerable strength in the head duels. And all this in combination with a Belgian nationality, young age and position of left-footed central defender: Voet has everything to become a sought-after player in the Jupiler Pro League. At Schiervelde, Voet showed himself positively last year as one of the better central defenders from 1B. During his first season with the pros, for example, he already passed in terms of purity to seventh place among all central defenders, and also placed in the top ten in the number of successful defensive actions and interceptions.

MALINWA PUSHES ON

His accumulated experience against the solid strikers from 1B clearly paid off, because in May 2020 Club Brugge announced that Voet’s contract was extended until June 2022, and as icing on the cake, he was also allowed to prepare for the new start the football season with the first team of Blauw-Zwart. And Voet was also in the spotlight in that practice campaign, including during a friendly game against… KV Mechelen. The technical staff of Malinwa present, as well as the board, were then able to observe the qualities of Voet with their own eyes, who then left a very strong impression.

Voet had been on the radar at KV Mechelen since January, but for various reasons the club did not press for his arrival. His brilliant performance in Club Brugge’s practice match against Malinwa, however, ensured that KV shifted up a gear to bring Voet in. In his own words, one or two days after that practice match, Voet already drew the line with people from KV Mechelen, after which he inquired in the meantime from Wesley Vanbelle and Wouter Biebauw, ex-team mates at KSV Roeselare with a past Achter de Kazerne.

THE KVM HUSBAND PIECE

Eventually, KV Mechelen and Club Brugge agreed on a loan, but the negotiations between both clubs did not go smoothly. Because Blauw-Zwart strongly believes in Voet’s capabilities, as evidenced by his recent contract extension in May 2020, there was serious negotiation about a possible purchase option. However, for KV Mechelen – and not for Club – it was necessary and crucial that a purchase option was included in the rental deal, something Malinwa eventually succeeded in doing. It is not yet known exactly how much that contractually determined transfer fee is. But if Voet can successfully continue his promising debut, then that amount will undoubtedly become known to the general public.

Because of his interesting profile (with resale value), the Mechelen board of directors was eager to see Siemen Voet come, although Wouter Vrancken was also expressly asking for his arrival. The Malinwa coach likes a neat build-up from behind and that is just one of Voet’s strengths, something he already proved in 1B at KSV Roeselare. Voet built up those football-playing qualities in the youth academy of Club Brugge, where more than enough attention is paid to playing football for defenders. Due to his unique profile, Voet is an excellent football-playing defender but also young, Belgian and left-footed, KVM realized a small feat by forcing a hotly contested purchase option during his loan.

THE CHOICE OF FOOT

Of course, it is also important to know what position Siemen Voet itself takes on an extended stay Behind the Kazerne. In their own words, Club Brugge let him decide whether or not to include that much-discussed purchase option. The foot was still allowed to stay on Jan Breydel, but the youngster was emphatically looking for playing minutes. “I see this purchase option as the ultimate measure of value for my season at KV,” he himself explained to Het Nieuwsblad. “If I perform well, the purchase option will probably be exercised. If it doesn’t, it probably wasn’t good enough. I’m going to settle myself for that. So this will be a crucial year for my career. ”

And those good performances have already started during his remarkable debut against KV Kortrijk last week. It remains to be seen whether Siemen Voet will also appear at the kick-off in the next league match. But it already seems clear that Voet should no longer just hope for the absence of other defenders: his reference match against Veekaa offers him more prospects for playing opportunities. At Club Brugge they will also follow the evolution of their youth product with a small heart, which will soon be very easy to leave permanently at Blauw-Zwart …