In soccer, there are many paths that a player can take in pursuit of glory. For some, they pop out as ready-made stars where you know that they have the “it factor” from day one, but other times a player can need someone to keep track of their development and steer it in the right direction to ensure that they end up on the right path. For Leandro Trossard and Kevin de Bruyne, while they will be opponents as Manchester City and Arsenal meet in a clash that could decide the Premier League title on Wednesday, the Belgian internationals both share a common development ground in the academy of KRC Genk in Belgium.
The club, currently leading the Belgian Pro League, is a unique place in the global landscape of soccer as a non-profit team that has to sell players on to survive. By investing funds into their academy, the club is able to ensure that they can stay competitive by helping players reach their potential but de Bruyne and Trossard are becoming models of their process as they’re reaching the highest levels of the game.
“One of the first games where de Brunye came on the pitch, it was a friendly, and it was like he had eyes on his back. And he immediately, at the age of 17, he was pinging balls from one side to the other, 40-45 meters. Immediately you saw that he was different than the other ones,” Genk technical director Dimitri de Conde told CBS Sports.
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And different he was. While de Bruyne reached global stardom almost immediately due to his vision, passing range and shooting ability, he still is able to wow people who watch him play each day. It’s a testament to the work done in…
