Dennis Praet - 'I Started at Leicester With Somebody Else's Boots' (Guardian Article)

[StanSP]

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2019/sep/20/dennis-praet-leicester-boots-arsenal-sampdoria?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&__twitter_impression=true

 

 

 

Everything was a bit last minute when Dennis Praet completed his £18m transfer from Sampdoria to Leicester City last month. The Belgium international did his homework on his new club on the Sampdoria team bus and when he turned up at Leicester to sign a week or so later it was without the tools of his trade.

 

“It was a really close call because it was deadline day,” Praet says. “I arrived at the training ground but there were some small issues with the contract and I think it was only one hour before the deadline that everything was figured out, so I signed just in time. But I arrived here with the thought that if I sign, I could go back to get my stuff I needed. But the gaffer really wanted me to stay for the first game. I had no boots, so I did two training sessions and the first game with somebody else’s. I don’t even know whose they were.”

 

Praet smiles as he looks back on that rather chaotic start. At one stage Brendan Rodgers, Leicester’s manager, thought Praet was ignoring him. “He sent me a text message the day before I came but it was on my Belgium number that I didn’t have with me, so I saw it three days after I signed,” says Praet, shaking his head. “He thought I didn’t reply to him. He said: ‘I sent you messages!’”

 

Other lines of communication were already open at Leicester. Youri Tielemans, who had joined from Monaco earlier in the summer, was a former teammate at Anderlecht as well as being part of the Belgium squad, and Praet was soon on the phone to his countryman once he had satisfied himself that Leicester’s style of play complemented his own.

 

“When I heard about the interest from Leicester in me, it was important for me to see how they played because I didn’t know exactly. At that moment I was on the coach with Sampdoria, we were driving to a friendly game and I watched the second half of Leicester v Atalanta,” says Praet, smiling at the thought.

 

“I know Atalanta from Italy – they’re a really good team. But I was really surprised by the way Leicester were playing – with a really high press, really nice football, a lot of chances. At that moment I was sold. Of course after that, when it was really getting serious, I spoke with Youri about: ‘How is the gaffer? How is the training centre? How are the players?’ And he was so positive.”

 

Although the intensity of the Premier League has taken Praet a little by surprise – his debut at Chelsea was more like a basketball match when he came off the bench – he has no doubt he has made the right move and also believes Leicester can achieve something special this season. “We must be a team that tries to get into that top six,” he says before Saturday’s fixture at Tottenham, “and I think we have the players to do it.”

 

Part of a golden generation of Belgium players and gifted with a racket too (he was ranked the seventh-best tennis player in the country in his age-group at the age of nine), Praet has been linked with Premier League clubs since he was a schoolboy. He was shown around Arsenal’s training ground as a 15-year-old by Liam Brady, when Praet was coming off the same conveyer belt in Genk that produced Kevin De Bruyne, Divock Origi and Thibaut Courtois.

 

 

“I had three or four really good options,” Praet says. “We went to visit Arsenal, Lille, Ajax and Anderlecht. Arsenal would have been a really nice step and I could earn a lot more money there than in Anderlecht, but at that moment my education was not finished and that was really important for me – there was no insurance that I would become a good football player.”

Praet gave himself every chance of succeeding, though. As a child, he would be picked up from his home in Leuven just after 7am, attend a secondary school in Genk, which was 70km away, and then train with the club’s academy across the afternoon and evening. “I would came back to Leuven at 10pm,” Praet says. “They were 14/15-hour days. But I never thought: ‘This is heavy.’ It was my goal to become a football player. Of course, in Genk they always said: ‘Come to this guest family, it’s much easier.’ But I’m also a family man and I like being at home.”

Genk’s loss was always going to be Anderlecht’s gain. Praet broke into the first-team as a 17-year-old and racked up more than 100 appearances by the time he made his Belgium debut at the age of 20. Scoring and creating goals freely, he was named Belgium’s player of the year in 2014 and it was inevitable he would move on sooner or later.

In the end he joined Sampdoria and it is clear that the club, the city of Genoa and Italian football in general left a big impression on him during his three years there. Praet talks about being “a more complete player than I was before” and explains how he has evolved from a No 10 into “a modern No 8 that can be creative in attack but also do the dirty work in defensive ways”.

It was, Praet says, a totally different way of training as well as playing. “In Italy, the tactics is what it’s all about. To give an example – and I really thought this was funny – we came into the TV room to watch videos almost every day, and when we played in training against the under-20 team [as preparation for an upcoming match], they also had to come into the video room to show them how the opposition team was pressing; that’s how far it goes. They were in there for half an hour: ‘This guy presses like this, now this guy presses like this,’ and then they did it on the training ground too.”

While Praet, 25, has many happy memories from his spell with Sampdoria, his time in Genoa was marked by tragedy too. On 14 August last year, a 200-metre section of the landmark Morandi Bridge collapsed, killing 43 people. Praet and his Sampdoria teammates, together with the Genoa players, attended a state funeral for the victims as the city’s football teams united.

“It was a really, really sad day,” Praet says. “I remember our team manager saying in the WhatsApp group for the team: ‘The Morandi Bridge collapsed. Is everybody OK?’ I was thinking: ‘Hell, what is he saying?’ Then I put on the TV – I was at home at the time – and then you see all those images. I was just watching it with a dry throat. It was unbelievable.”

It is another reason why Sampdoria and the city of Genoa will always have a “special place” in Praet’s heart. Returning to say farewell to his former teammates after signing for Leicester was something that Praet, who comes across as such a likable character, simply had to do. And, of course, he needed to pick up those boots.

 

 

 

[Shane]

I get the feeling this lad is gonna be serious competition for Maddison. Hope he gets more game time soon

[09bballer]

Great article. Sounds like he'll grab his place when he gets a chance. Wonder whose boots he got. Let's hope it wasn't Matty James!!!

 

[Deeg67]

He really does look like Albrighton.

[Wolfox]

1 minute ago, Deeg67 said:

He really does look like Albrighton’s better looking kid brother

FTFY

[TiffToff88]

15 minutes ago, 09bballer said:

Great article. Sounds like he'll grab his place when he gets a chance. Wonder whose boots he got. Let's hope it wasn't Matty James!!!

 

Why not?  They'd be in brand new condition

[lgfualol]

26 minutes ago, Shane said:

I get the feeling this lad is gonna be serious competition for Maddison. Hope he gets more game time soon

Not if BR persists with Maddison as a winger.

[TonyN11]

[lgfualol]

Nice article. I thought he played very well today.

[Tanya]

He did play well. I was amused Peter Drury, my favourite commentator, kept mixing up Praet and Albrighton.

[StanSP]

Did well when he came on. Made more of an impact that Perez did I thought.

 

4 hours ago, Tanya said:

He did play well. I was amused Peter Drury, my favourite commentator, kept mixing up Praet and Albrighton.

Ironic this  - me and my dad were driving back from Leicester to the M1 (south). See a Range Rover pull up next to us, quickly get a glance and think 'that's Dennis Praet!'. Didn't say anything to my dad. Drove a little further up to the traffic lights and get up next to the car. Turns out it was Marc Albrighton instead . Gave him a little wave and thumbs up and he returned the favour.

 

[LinekersLugs]

He came on and we won ! 
 

let’s hope that continues 

[StanSP]

8 hours ago, Tanya said:

He did play well. I was amused Peter Drury, my favourite commentator, kept mixing up Praet and Albrighton.

Watching the game back on BT Sport and Darren Fletcher got him mixed up when Rodgers was talking to Praet just before he came on

 

[WigstonWanderer]

On 21/09/2019 at 16:30, Shane said:

I get the feeling this lad is gonna be serious competition for Maddison. Hope he gets more game time soon

More likely competition for Youri. Actually, should keep both on their toes.

 

Edit: Spelling

[Kinowe Soorie]

He looks tidy.

[m4DD0gg]

looked really good when he came on

[CosbehFox]

Was in Sapori with him last night. Good to see he appears to be living local 

[HighPeakFox]

23 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Was in Sapori with him last night. Good to see he appears to be living local 

Are you sure it wasn't Kevin? 

[Blanchflower78]

I like this guy, be interesting to see how he fits or whether he gets a longer run but he has something no question. 

[funkyrobot]

The Sunday times’ John Aizlewood only rated him 4/10 yesterday. He also shithoused gray with a 3/10. Wtf was he watching? Definitely not the game.

[Suffolk exile]

Thought he looked very good yesterday when he came on. Made a couple of very good interceptions and looked pretty mobile. Promising.

[Collymore]

Anyone else notice him with the pile on celebration for Maddison's goal? he ended up launching himself over the top and he went flying! 

You can just make it out on the TV highlights.

[whoareyaaa]

he looks like a complete player already imo and will be able to do a job when called upon he could possibly break into the starting 11, he is defiantly an upgrade and at a further stage of his career than some of our other younger talent.

[coolhandfox]

Look like a quality player! 

 

Done more than Silva in he's couple of camo's them Silva did in his whole career!

[StriderHiryu]

You can tell when he plays that in terms of technique and decision making, he is a good player. I think he's being used the correct way, as a player from Serie A it's going to take time to adapt to our game. Against Sheffield United when he started, I remember thinking the game passed him by, whereas when he comes on he is fresher than most players out there so can make an impact. You can tell he's not quite on the same wavelength as the other players yet, and still gets shocked by the pace of the game, his first touch yesterday for example was diabolical! But all that will become second nature in time, and unlike Silva it's not a case of not being physical enough for the league. It's just getting used to our league and the players around him.

 

I also think when he was used in the diamond yesterday and was on the pitch at the same time as Maddison and Tielemans that it offers us an extra dimension. I posted it in the Rodgers thread if you want to see how we played, but it means we have 3 midfield runners who drift in behind the lines, all 3 of whom are technical and have a high chance creation rate. I think against teams that come to park the bus it will give us the potential to open them up. Next team at home is a bus parking team, so lets see if he's used and if it opens up the opposition.