Exclusive: "I rate him even higher than Doku!"

INTERVIEWS Anderlecht-online had an interview last week with Jacek Kulig, a Polish talent scout who lives in Brussels and has over 200,000 followers on Twitter. The conversation was (you'll never guess!) about the purple and white youth players.


About Anderlecht
Kulig begins the interview by breaking our hearts. "Anderlecht is not even my favorite club in Belgium. But that doesn't take away from the fact that I have enormous respect for the record-breaking champion."

"My mother has lived in Belgium for thirty years. When she used to bring jerseys of Anderlecht to Poland, I used to walk around with them very proudly. And everyone was extremely jealous." 
 
U23 in 1B
"Are there promising teams playing in the Belgian second division this season? That's great news! I'm definitely going to follow that league. One game in professional football is worth more than ten in the youth series. That's undoubtedly going to benefit the development of the youngsters!"
 
Julien Duranville
"I'm just writing an article about him! The Belgian flash. What a talent! I rate him even higher than Jérémy Doku. So Anderlecht will play in second division with Duranville and Enock Agyei on the wings? (blows) Wow!"

Rayane Bounida
Contrary to Duranville, Rayane Bounida didn't sign a professional contract with Anderlecht. He moved to Ajax this summer. "I'm the last one to write a player off based on his size. But Bounida? He looks twelve. That lack of body could be a serious problem."

"Of course his technique and creativity is extraordinary and he can have a great career. But how many players that small have really made it in the end? Very few."

"It's a shame he left. But he wasn't ready for 1B anyway. Can you see him competing against thirty-year-old players from Beerschot or Deinze? They would break his legs. I've also heard that at Ajax he's not even going to join the U19 yet." (Transfermarkt.de places him with Ajax U17 for now, ed)
 
Sebastiano Esposito
As for the question of which Anderlecht player will have the greatest career, Kulig didn't have to think long: "Sebastiano Esposito! I've been following him since he was sixteen and played at the European Championship U17. I'm a big fan."

"His heading game still needs to improve, but other than that he is so complete! I think he's better than Fabio Silva, although I think he's also a top talent. But Sebastiano just has to stay calm and concentrate only on football. That was the problem at times last season." 
 
Jakub Kiwior
With Jakub Kiwior, a Polish talent played for purple and white between 2016 and 2019. After two interludes in Slovakia, he played just about everything in Serie A for Spezia from mid-December last season. In June, he made his debut as a Polish international.

"In Italy Jakub was played out as a defensive midfielder. I thought he would be terrible at that position, because he doesn't have the tactical skills for that. But he played solidly. I see him quickly becoming a regular as a left central defender with Poland. And in the short term, he would also have reached the level of Anderlecht's first team."

Kristian Arnstad
"Arnstad still has to take steps physically. But he is a player who can make a difference. He is the type of player you go to the stadium for. He reminds me a bit of Thiago Alcantara (Liverpool) and Marco Verratti (PSG)."
 
Announcer
To finish, another witty anecdote. "You haven't asked me yet who my favorite youth player of all time of Anderlecht is? Guess what? Youri Tielemans? Nope. Leander Dendoncker!"

"It must have been the fanday about eight years ago. Dendoncker was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was standing with guys like Aleksandar Mitrović or Matías Suárez, but I just wanted to see Dendoncker! In the end, they went looking for him for me."