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Manchester City’s parent company City Football Group (CFG) has agreed to a deal for Lommel SK, a second-tier Belgian team. They have become the ninth team in the CFG portfolio, alongside clubs like New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos and Girona.
“We were drawn to Lommel’s culture, training facilities, and commitment to youth development and look forward to learning from his approach and helping the club evolve in the months and years ahead.” CFG CEO Ferran Soriano said .
The city clearly hopes to employ the Belgian team as a feeder club, with young players gaining experience there and the overall goal of becoming good enough to run out of the first team at Etihad Stadium.
It is a role that teams in Belgium and the Netherlands have performed for English clubs for several years. Arsenal had a link to Beveren, many Chelsea players had been on loan with Vitesse Arnhem, and Manchester United often sent youngsters to Royal Antwerp.
However, Liverpool have never had a strong connection to another club in this way. ECHO reported on 2010 that an agreement had been reached with KRC Genk, but there is little evidence that the society has done much, other than that Chris Mavinga played nine games on loan in 2011.
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The Reds have taken numerous players from Southampton in the past decade and bought key players Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker from Rome. Liverpool’s relationship with the Red Bull group has seen deals for Naby Keita and Takumi Minamino completed, and Timo Werner can still make it a hat-trick this summer.
But should the Reds have a specific feeder club to call their own and, if so, who should it be? When you consider the caliber of some of the players who have gone through the youth system at Genk, Liverpool could do much worse than reviving a relationship with them.
Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Steven Defour and Christian Benteke achieved the degree at the Genk Youth Academy, and Divock Origi began a career that culminated in the Champions League final for Liverpool there.
Genk also has a remarkable eye for getting talent from elsewhere. Wilfred Ndidi and Leon Bailey began their professional careers with Genk, while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly also appeared at the club before their 22nd birthday.
In the last year alone, three Genk players have moved into Premier League clubs. Sander Berge signed with Sheffield United in January, while Mbwana Samatta, who scored against the Reds in the Champions League and against City in the Carabao Cup final, joined Aston Villa. Leandro Trossard was a summer signing for Brighton, and is his second-best joint player in goal contributions this season.
Perhaps it is time for Michael Edwards to phone his Genk counterpart and reach a new partnership agreement. History suggests that some stars of the future might be in the Belgian club right now.
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