Many of us dream of becoming a footballer, but few make it. Even the best player in your local club may never get even a look in at an academy. It’s a competitive environment where youngsters are thrown in at the deep end and judged from the get-go. Some sink, others swim.
Nolhan Courtens is certainly swimming at the moment. The Belgian teenager is having a breakout season with Heerenveen in the Eredivisie, scoring twice in the opening five games. Under Robin Veldman, Courtens has become a first team regular in the centre of midfield.
Over the international break, we sat down with Courtens to talk about his career so far. Even at a young age he has experienced a number of different academies in Belgium, and while the option to remain in his native country was there two years ago, he decided to cross the border and try his hand at Dutch football instead. So far, that move is paying off.
The teenager, when asked who he compares himself to, mentioned one of the best players to come out of Anderlecht, Youri Tielemans. Courtens said ‘Tielemans is someone I look up to, even if there aren’t many similarities between us as players’.
It is fitting that Courtens picked Tielemans. Both play central midfield, and both spent time at Anderlecth’s famous academy. Courtens joined at the age of just 10. Suddenly a child who, as Courtens said, had just enjoyed playing the game for his local club, was in the middle of an academy set up that has produced some of the best players in Belgian football history. Anderlecht’s academies reputation is well known in Belgium and abroad. Courtens knew that during his time there. He told us ‘It felt like a big place. Like when I came to Anderlecht it was a whole different atmosphere than the club I came from. I came from an amateur club when it’s about having fun and I was one of better players’.
Many can relate to this. Going from a big fish in a small pond to suddenly surrounded by other big fishes, there is certainly going to be pressure to prove yourself over your peers. Despite the talent around him, Courtens did not feel like he wasn’t up to the level. However, his path to senior football was not going to see him go through the Anderlecht academy. Courtens moved from there and had spells with both Union St Gilloise and Mechelen before he ended up with Antwerp.
Antwerp was where he really began to develop as a footballer, alongside a number of names who are also having their chance in the first team this season. The Antwerp second team, the Young Reds, played in the third tier of Belgian football. It is an amateur league, but there is still quality and it gives a chance for young players to experience senior football. As he began to play more games, he was also given chances to train with the senior team at the age of just 16. Of the senior players that stood out to him, Calvin Stengs was the one he remembers mainly from training. Already this season Courtens has been able to line up against Stengs in the Eredivisie. It was during that 3-2 defeat that Courtens scored his first goal for Heerenveen. Dylan Vente sent in a wicked cross that Courtens finished well.
With Antwerp relying on young players this season, Courtens has some great insight into the talent on offer for the Great Old. Two players he recognised during his time were destined to make it in senior football were his good friends Youssef Hamdaoui and Ignace Abdelhamid. Hamdaoui hasn’t been able to make an impact on the current season due to injury, but it was clear from his handful of appearances last season that the young forward has plenty of talent. Abdelhamid, like Courtens, left Antwerp to pursue his breakthrough into senior football elsewhere. After spells with Wisla Plock and Westerlo, he is currently at Zawisza Bydgoszcz in the third tier of Polish football.
As his contract with Antwerp was coming to a close, Courtens had a decision to make. He had the chance to stay with Antwerp and Belgium more generally with other clubs, or he could go abroad. The midfielder explained his decision to leave his native country ‘I was very interested in Dutch football, by the way of playing and just seeing a new country, trying something new’.
Yet it was more than just trying something new. It was also a chance to have a fresh start. Courtens had been with Antwerp for a long time, and in his mind they clearly had an idea of who he was. A fresh club could bring a new perspective from new coaches: ‘I thought like okay joining a new club new country they will discover me, they will discover me again and so it could be good for me and for them also’. It is a stark reminder of the number of sliding doors moments footballers face in their career, even at an early age. Had Courtens stayed, would he now be a first team regular in Antwerp, given the challenges the club has faced financially? It is impossible to tell.
Courtens ended up joining Robin Veldman at Heerenveen. Veldman is well known in Belgian football for his work with young players. After six appearances last season, the summer saw him fully integrated into the first team and now he is proving himself on the pitch. For the first three games of the season Courtens had to try and make an impact off the bench. Against Willem II, Veldman gave the teenager his first start of the season. Since then, Courtens has become a regular starter in central midfield alongside Sweeden’s Marcus Linday.
So what are his goals for the rest of the campaign? ‘To play as many minutes and to progress, to become more mature and yeah to just become a better player’. After that, the dream is naturally to join a top five league. Courtens is certainly not thinking about that just yet. When asked which league he would love to play in in the future, he replied ‘I would like to try the Premier League’. It would be quite something if, like the player he looks up to in Tielemans, Courtens ends up there, even if their paths to the Premier League were very different.
For the full interview with Nolhan Courtens check out the Belgian Football Podcast on Spotify, Apple or any podcasting app.