A Name to Remember: Anthony Vanden Borre

By: Bob | December 14th, 2006

Perhaps that draft you felt this morning came from the proverbial opening of the winter transfer window. We are just a few weeks away from that exciting and turbulent time when rumors abound and teams start tossing money into the wind in the hope that they will land a player who will contribute to a championship or help them avoid relegation. With the approach of the opening of the transfer window there comes the inevitable talk of the next great players. Names of footballers are bandied about and without ever setting eyes on a player fans can help make nobodies into legends overnight. This is, indeed, the most wonderful time of the year, where optimism abounds and expectations are great.

This little corner of the information superhighway does its best to add to the hype machine with its A Name to Remember features. Today we would like to introduce you to Anthony Vanden Borre, a 19-year-old Belgian who plays for Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht.

Vanden Borre is a physical presence in the backline for Anderlecht and he can play both on the right outside and as a central defender. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vanden Borre made his debut for Anderlecht at the tender age of 16. A year later he laced them up for Belgium and in the process became the second youngest player in the country’s history to ever play for the full national team.

Vanden Borre has left many a big club drooling and the reports suggest that there is currently a two-way race between Tottenham and Real Betis to have him sign his name on the dotted line of a big fat contract. There is still plenty of time for other clubs to join in the fun and for the legend of Vanden Borre to grow so stay tuned.

The mandatory YouTube montage of Vanden Borre’s feats to date accompanied by questionable music is below. One of these days I’d love to go on YouTube and see a montage of myself blogging with a butt rock accompaniment. That is when I would know I’ve made it big.