LOOK. This is 13-year-old super talent Ilyes Bennane
Contract with Nike, invitation from Real and disagreement in Genk: who is Ilyes Bennane, the 13-year-old top talent that Anderlecht brings in?
A small hype has arisen around Bennane in recent months, partly fueled by a series of articles in French-language media. That has everything to do with his debut for the Red Devils U15 in February. In the match against England, he became the youngest Belgian youth international ever at the age of thirteen years and one month – more than 20 months younger than Romelu Lukaku at the time.
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At that time, Bennane was still playing for Racing Genk, where the attacking midfielder played two generations above his own age category. But the Limburgers decided to stop the collaboration immediately.
“If he is such a talented boy, why are we letting him go? It is a story of norms and values,” Koen Daerden, technical director of the Genk youth, said earlier. “We put a lot of energy into him and believed in him, but there came a point when it was no longer manageable.” According to the boy’s father, there was a disagreement about a number of matters, for example about which class his son should play in. There are also stories about the family’s demandingness, but Daerden did not want to go into that too deeply.
Time will tell whether Genk will regret the decision. At Anderlecht, Bennane now gets the opportunity to continue working towards a professional career. The midfielder was still too young for a move abroad.
Internship with Moroccan U15
In the meantime, the Moroccan association has also set its sights on Bennane. The talent recently spent time in Morocco, where he participated in an internship with the U15s. So it may be perfect that the youngest Belgian international ever will never play for the Red Devils. Will Bennane soon opt for the Moroccan first team, just like Bilal El Khannouss? To be continued.
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