Scout Report – Laurens De Bock
Championship promotion hopefuls Leeds United are reportedly close to completing a deal to sign Club Brugge’s left-back Laurens De Bock.
The powers that be at Elland Road are said to have agreed on personal terms with the player in what will be a four-and-a-half-year contract for De Bock, making him a belated and much-needed long-term replacement for the departed Charlie Taylor.
The 25-year-old former Belgium under-21 international has left Club Brugge’s winter training camp in Spain to head to Yorkshire to complete his medical, with the deal set to be wrapped up by this week. Once those formalities are completed, De Bock will be announced by the club, who have already made significant inroads in the January transfer window, just as promised by the hierarchy at Elland Road.
De Bock definitely has quality but has appeared just 8 times this season for Club Brugge who signed him back in 2013 from Lokeren. Leeds have seen off competition from Wolves and Torino for his signature. Here’s what we know about him so far:
History
De Bock was born in Dendermonde, up in the north of Belgium and has represented his country at under-16, 17, 18, 19 and 21 levels more than 50 times until this point. He started his youth career with HO Kalken before moving on to Standaard Wetteren before being snapped up by Lokeren, which is where he made his senior debut in Belgium back in 2009.
After 80 league games with Lokoren though, he was taken to Club Brugge, where he won the Belgian First Division, the Belgian Cup and the Belgian Super Cup.
Style Of Play
De Bock is much more of an old-fashioned left-back in that he doesn’t see his job as getting into the box and creating goals, but rather holding a solid backline and keeping clean sheets. He may lack the attacking prowess of the departed Charlie Taylor but he possesses more defensive nous and could be an ideal belated replacement.
His Future
De Bock’s overall profile is one of a steadily improving player, so fitting into the Championship and eventually, the Premier League in England doesn’t seem to be outside of his wheelhouse. He hasn’t made it a habit to constantly moving around and so his loyalty is likely to stay remain with Leeds, as long as they don’t flounder in this division for too much longer.
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