Maarten Vandevoordt shot into the headlines when on 10 December 2019, Vandevoordt, aged 17 years 287 days, became the youngest goalkeeper in UEFA Champions League history playing the full 90 minutes. This was a baptism of fire against Napoli but is a statement of intent for his future.
Maarten has managed to challenge for the Genk first team slot and I am confident over 20/21 he can become the first choice.
Maarten started his football with his local side Brustem VV but joined the Genk academy at just 9 years of age. He has been the main keeper at his age group and signed pro at 16 admits lots of interested from some big clubs.
Currently he is 6′ 2″ with still more to come in terms of height, he has excellent agility, makes those big saves, looks pretty quick off his line, and loves a 1v1. In typical modern fashion he wants to play with his feet, he loves a Cruyff which has got him in trouble, I guess at a young age for a keeper, some advice might be to keep it simple or at least know the right time to put in some show boating.
His challenge today is dealing with the limelight at his age. It’s hard enough to be a winger breaking in and missing a chance but if you’re a keeper it’s pretty unforgiving. Mistakes in the Champions League and Belgian Cup are hard to deal with but being man of the match in a league game hopefully repaired the self belief.
Weirdly Simon Mignolet, lived on the same street in Brustem, so when scouting keepers the Belgians will be starting there!!