Wolverhampton Wanderers have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Lars Dendoncker, with Het Laatste Nieuws reporting that the 19-year-old turned down a move to Molineux for Brighton & Hove Albion. Lars is the brother of Leander, who signed for £12.4m in 2018, but opted against joining the 25-year-old much to the bemusement of many supporters.
Imagine turning down a chance to chill with your bro at a club, thats so weird
— Carlos 🐺 (@FodusCaralho) July 1, 2020
Lol bizarre 🤨
— Danny T™️ 🇬🇧 (@taylor_d1210) July 1, 2020
Imagine actually wanting to join Brighton
— Katie Benton (@katiebenton23) July 1, 2020
Would be to confusing anyway having 2 dendonckers
— Adam (@WolvesAdam_) July 1, 2020
Might hate his bro tbf
— europa wolf (@europawolf2019) July 1, 2020
Bha far more likely to offer regular 1st team place. Wont get the benefit of Nuno’s coaching though.
— Chris Tew (@TeweyMOFC) July 1, 2020
Probably wants guaranteed first team football
— Chris (@giles_hotmail) July 1, 2020
Lars previously played for Club Brugge and went on to make 12 appearances for the U19s and four appearances for the reserves. The centre-back, who has represented the Belgium national team at U15 (3 games), U16 (8 games), U17 (16 games), U18 (5 games) and U19 (1 game) level, is on the cusp of senior football but may not have felt he’d get many opportunities at Wolves.
With Conor Coady, Willy Boly, Max Kilman, Romain Saiss and Ryan Bennett for competition, Lars may have struggled for playing time under Nuno Espirito Santo. The 19-year-old has plumped for Brighton U23s and signed a deal until 2022, so the hard work begins now to get into their first-team. As things stand, Lars has Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Shane Duffy and Dan Burn standing in his way of a starting place at senior level.
He also has Ben White, Leo Ostigard, and Haydon Roberts to fight with. Interestingly though, he could end up playing at Tony Blooms Belgium team ROYAL UNION SAINT-GILLOISE and play first team football there for a season.