Experienced Belgium international center-back Jan Vertonghen finally returns to play in the nation's top division as he joined Anderlecht on a free transfer following Benfica contract termination..

2022-09-03 16:03

Experienced Belgium international center-back Jan Vertonghen finally returns to play in the nation




Belgium international center-back Jan Vertonghen has joined Anderlecht on a free transfer after terminating his contract with Benfica, the club announced on their official website last night.


According to the Anderlecht's official statement, Vertonghen, who joined as a free agent and will wear the No.14 shirt for the Purple & White, agreed a two-year short term contract with the club, with an option to extend for a further year, after mutually terminating his contract with the Portuguese giants.


Upon joining, Vertonghen said that he has actually received Anderlecht's offers many times over the years, but he feels that everything just happened at the right place and the right time this time, thus he finally got his wish to join the club.


He added said that he has followed the club's development projects for many years and is confident that he can lead the younger players to become stronger with his rich experience.


The 35-year-old Vertonghen was born on April 24, 1987 in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. He is 1.89 meters tall and primarily plays as a central-back, but he is also capable of playing as left-back occasionally. Vertonghen joined former Jupiler Pro League club Beerschot's youth academy together with national team teammates, Moussa Dembélé, Thomas Vermaelen, Toby Alderweireld, and Radja Nainggolan in his early years.

Vertonghen joined defending Eredivisie champions Ajax's youth academy together with Alderweireld in 2003, and made his first-team debut in August 2006. In January of the following year, Vertonghen was briefly loaned out to RKC Waalwijk, and despite his impressive performances, he ultimately failed to help Waalwijk avoid relegation.


After returning to the team from loan, Vertonghen officially became the club's main center-back partner with Vermaelen since October 2008. And when Vermaelen switched to Arsenal the following summer, Vertonghen, whose defensive partner had changed to Alderweireld, has since established a strong defensive tacitcal understanding with each other, as they helped the team won the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup twice each.


In July 2012, Vertonghen moved to the Premier League to join Tottenham Hotspur for €12million. As soon as he joined, Vertonghen instantly helped Tottenham greatly improve their defensive problems with a series of near-perfect performances. In the summer of 2015, after his old partner Alderweireld also came to the White Hart Lane, the two once again formed a nearly watertight defensive tacital understanding with each other.


However, after colliding with Alderweireld in the first leg of the 2018/19 Champions League semi-finals against former club Ajax, Vertonghen suffered a year-long concussion, but he still insists to continuing playing while sick, his performance in the 2019/20 season declined significantly as a result.


After his contract with Tottenham expired in the summer of 2020, Vertonghen joined Liga Portugal bwin giants Benfica and formed a defensive partnership with former Manchester City's Argentina international defender Nicolás Otamendi, but he has never been able to fully win over the trusts of former head coachese Jorge Jesus and Nélson Veríssimo.


Last season, he made 48 appearances for Benfica in all competitions, assisting 3 times, and reached the Taça da Liga final with the team.


At the international level, Vertonghen has represented the Belgium senior national team since June 2007. So far, he has represented Belgium in 139 appearances in all competitions, scoring 9 goals and assisting 6 times, while also became the third place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia with the team. Interestingly, the opponents of Vertonghen's national team debut and his 100th game are Portugal.


It is worth mentioning that Vertonghen has been away from home and fought alone for many years since 2003, thus joining Anderlecht this time meant that he has finally returned to play in his home country after 19 years.