Alfie will come up against £18m starlet
Rangers will come up against one of Europe’s hottest prospects in Thursday night’s Europa League group opener away to Standard Liege.
Zinho Vanheusden, a 6ft 2in centrehalf, had to wait until the start of this month to win his first cap for Belgium.
Their manager, Roberto Martinez, took the chance to give the 21-yearold a run-out in a friendly against the Ivory Coast.
The fact he was able to get a foot in the door at all with a country that had until then won their previous 12 games testified to the impact he has had at club level.
Signed for £11-million from Inter Milan in 2018 – the summer in which his country reached the World Cup semi-finals – Vanheusden has been a near ever-present in the Liege side.
So much so, in fact, that the Serie A giants – who brought him up through their Under-17s and Under-19s but never gave him a game for the first team – have effectively admitted they were hasty in letting him go.
According to the player himself, there were multiple talks about an £18m move to bring him back last summer.
And even now in October, reports in Italy suggest Inter continue to track his progress as a young player they could build their defence around for years to come.
At the moment, happy where he is.
He is enjoying his football in Liege, where he started his football career as a nine-year-old before being taken over to Italy aged 16, and has stated publicly he believed his time in
Vanheusden is
Belgium is not finished yet.
In what was taken as a message to the Italians, he stated both that he felt very good where he was, and saw no reason why he should play anywhere else just now.
Alfredo Morelos & Co will have another, more-experienced, defensive talent to get past on Thursday night is Gojko Cimirot.
The holder of 26 caps for Bosnia & Herzegovina, the midfielder is credited with being with one of the key factors in Standard Liege’s progress through to the group stages of Europe’s second club competition.
Steven Gerrard’s men will also have the unfamiliar – for this season, that is – experience of having a partisan crowd cheering on their opponents.
Standard have been given the go ahead for 7,000 home fans to attend the game.