Leander Dendoncker

Date of birth: 15 April 1995 (age 22)
Place of birth: Passendale, Belgium
Height: 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position: Midfielder

I've seen surprisingly little linking Dendoncker with other clubs recently, but he's developing into a really good CM/DM/CB. He had a great season with Anderlecht and I'm guessing they won't be able to hold onto him for much longer.

Scout report here for those who are unfamiliar with him: http://outsideoftheboot.com/2017/06/06/scout-report-leander-dendoncker/

And the obligatory youtube comp:

Not as hyped as Tielemans but was just as valuable for Anderlecht this season. Great talent.

I've heard about him and watched a few Anderlecht games but never really paid too much attention to him so I might be wrong but just based on this video he looks like a good talent but I don't think he's a Barça type of midfielder. Don't think he could play as CM here and for DM position he looks nothing like Busquets. He's more Xabi-esque with good long passes. For those who have followed him more, do you think he could play DM in our system? I like that he seems to have good long range shots. As much as I love Busi that's one of his clear weaknesses. When we play against teams parking the bus we could use more long range shots but whenever Busquets get into that position and try to shot from outside the box it ends up like a pass for opponents GKs if it's not blocked before.

We'll have to eventually start to look for Busquets's longterm replacement. Not our biggest need right now as we have players who can step in when he's not available but in 2-3 years we'll need that as well. I see Roberto more as a box to box midfielder than pure DM. Maybe Samper (I'm interested to see what plans Valverde has for him) can be groomed as his successor if not we'll probably have to look for outside help so Dendoncker is possibly one of the players to keep an eye on.

Messi983 said:

do you think he could play DM in our system?

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Well, that depends on what our system will be under Valverde. Dendoncker has played mostly as the deepest midfielder in a 4-3-3, or as one of the 2 in a 4-2-3-1 this season, but he's also played farther forward at times.

Messi983 said:

We'll have to eventually start to look for Busquets's longterm replacement. Not our biggest need right now as we have players who can step in when he's not available but in 2-3 years we'll need that as well.

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He won't be there in 2-3 years. He might not even be there in 2-3 months. It's all opinions I guess, but I feel this is the kind of player we urgently need. I know we've been linked a little to Mikel Merino, who's a similar type of player, and to Fabinho in the past, but I don't like our chances of getting either. I haven't been impressed with Samper in any of his performances I've seen at Granada either. Hopefully, Valverde can work wonders with him if he's coming back though.

Do you expect they'll sell him now after they already sold Tielemans and will probably also sell their top scorer Teodorczyk?

I know he won't be in Anderlecht in 2-3 years but he might still be there next year and if he shows enough improvement we could consider buying him then if we'll hit with all our signings this summer so we won't have any glaring holes anymore (probably just a wishful thinking I know). Even if he's sold it's possible he'll go to a club like Monaco, Dortmund, Roma, Sevilla, Valencia,... (instead of clubs like PSG, United, Chelsea, Bayern, not to say RM where he'd be almost impossible to buy) where we could still get him from if he'd prove to be the real deal.

Merino would be an interesting option for the future. BVB will reportedly sell him with both Bilbao and Sociedad interested. We can always buy him from clubs like this but right now his price will probably only be around 10M€ (of course if we'd show interest Dortmund would instantly ask for more). Maybe buy and loan him to one of the Basque teams wouldn't be a bad move but don't see this happen.

We'll see about Samper. Granada was a mess so I wouldn't really judge his performances there but yeah, overall it was another lost season for his development and time is running out for him to really made it at top level. Still think he deserves a chance in preseason to show Valverde what he can do and then decide whether to keep him in first team or loan/sell (with included buy-back option) him.

We haven't even found Xavi or Dani's long-term replacement, heck not even Iniesta's.

What makes you think we'll even start thinking about Busi's

Apparently Atletico will go after him in January transfer window.

His price is reasonable, looks like a tremendous talent. Cant get it wrong with him. Why doesnt any team want him? Barcelona could use him, yes he plays similar to busquets but he has much more to his game than that.

We might lack the imagination to look at relatively unkown (internationally) players like him.

he's supposedly priced at 38ME, heard a lot of good stuff about him

Yannik said:

he's supposedly priced at 38ME, heard a lot of good stuff about him

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He's a great player already at 22, best player in the Belgian League last year together with Tielemans.
He's strong, rarely injured, good in the air, good disitribution etc

Anderlecht few weeks ago demanded 30 million for him in order to sell not even 38, but even if for 38 hes damn special. When it comes to level of skills ( and not set of skills) hes on par with what de bruyne was years ago, each in his own position of course.

He plays for the club I support (Anderlecht) and he's a great player, but not fit for Barca, trust me guys! He would be great in the PL, but La Liga (and especially Barca) isn't made for him. Most Belgian football experts agree as well. Then again, he would still be better than Paulinho and would be available for 25M-30M (38M is just a price that our sporting director named to scare off clubs, but he has also admitted that it would be hard to turn down 25M-30M for this guy). I'm pretty sure he has admitted on many occasions that his dream is to play for Barca.