Anderlecht

Bellamy, who talked extensively about his long battle with depression last year, had been part of the Anderlecht coaching staff since 2019. 

The 42-year-old has been working as former Manchester City team-mate Kompany's right-hand man since earlier this year, but he will officially step aside on Monday. 

A statement on Anderlecht's website on Sunday read: "Assistant coach Craig Bellamy will leave the coaching staff of RSC Anderlecht on Monday.  

"Bellamy already struggled with mental problems in the past and these have resurfaced again recently.  

"With his departure, the Brit took a very difficult, but absolutely necessary decision concerning his health.  

"Bellamy said goodbye to the players in the dressing room on Sunday afternoon after the 7-2 victory against KV Mechelen." 

Former Wales international Bellamy retired from football in 2014 following a second spell with hometown club Cardiff City. 

He moved into coaching with Cardiff at academy level before departing in January 2019 and taking up a similar position with Anderlecht. 

Following the news of Bellamy's departure, Kompany added: "Craig has long struggled with his mental health. Now the monster is back there.  

"Health is above football. We are obligated to give him the chance to get well." 

The Pro League in early April suggested the 2019-20 season be cancelled and a meeting to determine its fate is due to be held on Friday.

Anderlecht last played on March 7, defeating Zulte-Waregem 7-0 at home, though Nasri did not feature in the matchday squad.

Nasri has been at the centre of media rumours this week, however, after reports in Belgian publication Derniere Heure claimed the former Manchester City and Arsenal playmaker had not been in regular contact with player-manager Vincent Kompany.

But Nasri has dismissed the rumours, insisting he has been keeping in touch with Anderlecht.

"It makes no sense," Nasri said during in a live interview on Instagram.

"Where did you see someone disappear? Because that is what I thought I saw or heard said: someone who has disappeared or no longer gives any sign of life. 

"I speak to the chief medical officer every day. He is the one who sends me the sessions I have to do. I also speak with Vincent Kompany."

Nasri joined up with former City team-mate Kompany at Anderlecht in 2019 but has failed to revive his career in Belgium, having made just eight appearances in all competitions.

Player-boss Kompany has seen his players stay fit at home in recent weeks, with the Anderlecht stars dialling in on Zoom to take part in exercise sessions.

But many first-team footballers are expected back at the Neerpede training ground after Anderlecht decided the time was right to reunite in the same place.

Belgium remains largely locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it was announced on April 2 that a plan was in place to abandon the Pro League season; however, a final decision in that respect has yet to be taken. There is only one round of regular-season games remaining.

In the meantime, Anderlecht have invited players to pull on their training kit and assemble together, while stressing attendance on Monday is voluntary.

Tackling and physical contact is set to be banned in the sessions.

Club spokesman David Steegen said: "Players who do not feel reassured can continue to work at home. But each player present at Neerpede will observe the safety distances and the coaches will direct the exercises while respecting the social distance."

Speaking to Belgian public service broadcaster RTBF, Steegen added: "It will be mainly physical training, but also with a ball.

"All the equipment used will be disinfected, before and after each session. Players will not have access to the dressing room, everyone will change and shower at home."

UEFA questioned Belgium's intention to cancel the rest of its league season, and there will be no final ruling on whether the campaign will resume until late April at the earliest.

Anderlecht have endured a rocky first season since Kompany joined after bringing an end to his illustrious Manchester City career.

They sit eighth in the Pro League, with Club Brugge 15 points clear of closest rivals Gent at the top.

The Pro League in early April suggested the 2019-20 season be cancelled and a meeting to determine its fate is due to be held on Friday.

Anderlecht last played on March 7, defeating Zulte-Waregem 7-0 at home, though Nasri did not feature in the matchday squad.

Nasri has been at the centre of media rumours this week, however, after reports in Belgian publication Derniere Heure claimed the former Manchester City and Arsenal playmaker had not been in regular contact with player-manager Vincent Kompany.

But Nasri has dismissed the rumours, insisting he has been keeping in touch with Anderlecht.

"It makes no sense," Nasri said during in a live interview on Instagram.

"Where did you see someone disappear? Because that is what I thought I saw or heard said: someone who has disappeared or no longer gives any sign of life. 

"I speak to the chief medical officer every day. He is the one who sends me the sessions I have to do. I also speak with Vincent Kompany."

Nasri joined up with former City team-mate Kompany at Anderlecht in 2019 but has failed to revive his career in Belgium, having made just eight appearances in all competitions.

The former Manchester City captain, now manager of Anderlecht, stated after the game that players and coaches were verbally abused throughout.

"I go home disgusted and disappointed. My players, my staff and I were victims of racist insults," the 35-year-old told broadcaster Eleven Sports.

"I want to get together with my staff, to be with the people who matter to me. We should not still have to experience this today."

Club Brugge, who were in the same Champions League group as Manchester City this season, released a statement after the game condemning the actions of their fans, saying: "Club Brugge, its fans, staff, players and board, strongly condemn any form of racism.

"These individuals are not representative of the values and norms of our club, and do not have their place at Jan Breydel Stadium."

On Monday, Club Brugge said the club would do all they can to identify those responsible and seek to impose stadium bans.

Kompany won two Belgian league titles as a player at Anderlecht before going on to win four Premier League titles with City, as well as two FA Cups and four EFL Cups during his time at the Etihad Stadium, before heading back to Anderlecht as player-coach in 2019. He retired from playing in 2020 to focus on managerial duties.

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku posted support for his former Belgium team-mate on Instagram, and demanded a firm response from the football authorities.

"An icon like Vincent Kompany has been insulted because of his skin colour," Lukaku wrote. "Enough is enough... take real action now."F

The 27-year-old defender recently completed a move to the European club from United States MLS team New York Red Bull.  Lawrence made 118 appearances for the New York franchise in five years.  With the move away from the club coming ahead of the start of the new MLS season, the right-back has admitted he is a little short on match fitness.

“The guys are already midway or past midway the season so it’s already business time.  For me right now it’s about getting fit and being ready to play,” Lawrence told members of the media at his unveiling.

Lawrence qualifies to play this weekend against  Mechelen but is not yet sure he is ready to make an appearance.

“As it relates to fitness, I’m coming off a long offseason about 2 months offseason, so match fitness I’m not up to that standard yet but I should be soon.  The guys are pushing each and every day, I am about a week in, so about next week or a week and a half I should be up to 90 minutes match fitness,” Lawrence said.

“So far though the guys are being smart because you know when a player is coming back from offseason you can’t just rush him into a game because that is risking injury.”

The Hammers saw off their Belgian Pro League rivals at London Stadium on Thursday thanks to goals from Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen, in a match marred late on by crowd trouble in the stands.

Victory further cements West Ham's place atop Group B with four wins from four, six points ahead of Danish outfit Silkeborg, who they face in a fortnight.

But with sides finishing in first place heading straight to the last-16, and runners-up having to settle for an additional play-off round with teams eliminated from the Europa League, Moyes cautioned there remains work to be done.

"I'm really pleased we've qualified for the next stage," he stated. "The big thing is to always be in Europe still after Christmas.

"[But] the form of Silkeborg at the moment looks a problem given the goals they're scoring, so we still need a point to be winners of the group.

"Hopefully we can do that but winning tonight was important. We deserved to win, but we made it much harder for ourselves than it should've been."

The final act in London - during which Anderlecht scored a late penalty to set up a tense last few minutes - was overshadowed by off-field events, with police required to keep supporters at bay.

Anderlecht subsequently criticised their own supporters in a statement after the full-time whistle, a move Moyes applauded, though the Scotsman was at pains to limit discussion on the matter.

"It's good for the press officer to stand up for the club," he added. "It's a big credit to them as they're a really good football club. They want to protect their own club and rightly so.

"Everyone's focus is taken away when there's crowd trouble in some way. I didn't have any interest in it as it's one of those things you don't want to talk about. I don't want to draw any more attention to it."

Rensenbrink starred for Anderlecht for nine years at club level while playing a key role for the outstanding Oranje national side of the 1970s, earning 46 caps.

The winger started in the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals - both defeats - and no Dutch player has been involved in more goals (six goals, four assists) in the competition's history.

A former team-mate of Johan Cruyff with the Oranje, Rensenbrink finished second in the Ballon d'Or voting behind Franz Beckenbauer in 1976 and third two years later as Kevin Keegan took the top prize.

He was also named in Pele's FIFA 100 in 2004, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers.

Anderlecht posted on Twitter on Saturday: "Thank you, Robbie. In our purple hearts forever."

The 36-year-old, enjoying the challenge of rejuvenating Belgian giants Anderlecht after a disappointing campaign last year, now has his eyes firmly set on investment opportunities off the pitch.

Despite being coached by the likes of Roberto Martinez and Mauricio Pochettino, Vertonghen does not see the lure of being back on the grass when he calls time on his playing career in football.

"I have my A licence, I did it just to understand how coaches think and what kind of work they need to put in," he said to Stats Perform.

"So, when I'm sitting on this side of the room in a meeting, I understand where it comes from. It's important for me to understand people, how they think, what work they have to put in, how the data works, and the physical load.

"That's why I did it, to understand that side and for me, it's not an option – definitely not for the first couple of years – mainly because I am looking for the right balance in my life.

"I feel that the husband I want to be, the father that I want to be and the coach that I want to be, I can't see it will work because I see the work they put in.

"They arrive at seven, they go home after seven. I want to see my kids, as I said, my son has started playing football. I want to go to his training sessions. I want to go to his games. I want to take my daughter to dance class. I want to pick my other son up from school.

"And that life doesn't exist being a coach or being an assistant coach or a physical coach. And if you take a job like this, you can't disrespect the job. You have to put the hours in, and I can't do that at the moment."

Vertonghen joins other elite athletes to work with investment company APEX to invest in the sports, media and entertainment industry.

APEX boasts 15+ investments among an athlete community of over 100 from the world of F1, football, boxing and surfing.

Antonio Cacorino, APEX co-founder and chief executive, believes having Vertonghen on board, along with the other global sporting stars, reinforces that notion athletes are keen to make the most of their potential away from their respective fields.

CaCorino said: "Traditionally, the thought was, 'Let me only think about investing or being active in something different when I retire. Let me focus 1,000 per cent on sports'.

"Unless you are Cristiano Ronaldo or a few other athletes in the world, when you retire, you just become irrelevant. It's unfortunate but it's the reality.

"We work with guys like Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly. In football, Siem de Jong, Luuk de Jong, Christian Eriksen, Raphael Varane. Anthony Joshua is a big boxer, so just really building a very strong, diverse asset community.

"We created an amazing athlete community of athletes from all over the world who have this sort of entrepreneurial mindset and this like-minded approach to how they want to position themselves beyond pure athletes."

Vertonghen, an Athlete partner at APEX, reveals meeting the young and ambitious co-founders, along with a star-studded list of sports stars involved, gave him the confidence to get involved with the Lisbon-based company.

"When you invest in a company with other high-profile names, most of the time they're surrounded by the best possible people," added the defender, who is Belgium’s most-capped player with 153 appearances for the Red Devils.

“They invest in the best possible companies with great opportunities.

"It makes a bit less sense if I invest in software from any kind of thing. For me, it's a sport-minded company where I can have my input, where I can talk to anyone who I want, where I can get the information that I want."

However, Vertonghen has no intention of hanging up his boots just yet, nor is he ready to give up keeping clean sheets either.

After a difficult 2022-23 season, which saw Champions League regulars Anderlecht finish in a lowly 11th place, he takes satisfaction in what has been a positive start to the campaign.

He continued: "Last year was a very, very bad and disappointing season, but we had a very good transfer window, great signings.

“[The manager] brought some great young guys in, experienced players like Kasper Schmeichel, for example, just leaders and guys who just want to win, and that's what we needed. The atmosphere in the team is great.

“In Belgium, it works with a play-off system. If you get into the top six, you go for the Champions Playoffs, and that's our ambition, to be in that top six.

“And then whoever's in the top six can be champion. It's just important for all the teams who have the ambition to achieve the highest things, to be in the top six.”