Thibaut Courtois Excluded, Kevin De Bruyne to Lead Belgium’s Squad at EURO 2024 – News18
Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne for Belgium (AFP)
In other news, though, as expected the likes of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku have made their way into the squad without fail.
Belgium and Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois has been left out of Belgium’s provisional squad, as Kevin De Bruyne was named skipper for the upcoming EURO 2024.
It sure did not help that the keeper was not under the good graces of Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco, who earlier in March stated that Courtois would not be selected for the Euros despite his best efforts to patch things up with the goalkeeper, after a rift caused by stripping Courtois of the captaincy back in 2018.
In other news, though, as expected the likes of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku have made their way into the squad without fail.
De Bruyne, who had incurred a horrific Achilles injury during the first game of the 2023-24 season for City, was ruled out of action for half of the season.
But, the midfield maestro took no time to shine once he arrived back, as he once again began to thread the needle with 10 assists in 18 apperances in the PL and lead City to their fourth consecutive Premier League title win.
Having missed out on claiming any major silverware with their own ‘golden generation’, Belgium will be heading to Germany hoping to mark a new era under Roberto Martinez’s successor, Tedesco, and rise up to the upper echelons of European football once again.
Currently, Belgium have only announced 25 players for their squad so far, meaning that there exists one more open slot for youngsters and players to vie for.
This time around, Belgium will be looking to better their past couple of performances in the international stage: a quarter-final exit in the previous EUROs, and an abysmal group stage exit in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Belgium EURO 2024 Squad:
Goalkeepers: Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest), Koen Casteels (Wolfsburg), Thomas Kaminski (Luton).
Defenders: Wout Faes (Leicester), Timothy Castagne (Fulham), Arthur Theate (Rennes), Jan Vertonghen (Anderlecht), Axel Witsel (Atletico Madrid), Zeno Debast (Anderlecht), Thomas Meunier (Trabzonspor), Maxim De Cuyper (Club Brugge)
Midfielders: Aster Vranckx (Wolfsburg), Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa), Orel Mangala (Lyon), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Arthur Vermeeren (Atletico Madrid), Amadou Onana (Everton)
Forwards: Romelu Lukaku (Roma), Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta), Jeremy Doku (Manchester City), Lois Openda (Leipzig), Leandro Trossard (Arsenal), Johan Bakayoko (PSV Eindhoven), Dodi Lukebakio (Sevilla), Yannick Carrasco (Al-Shabab)
