Félix Lemaréchal (right) scored his first goal of the season against KRC Genk. — © BELGA
Brugge –
In the search for a successor to Bilal El Khannouss, KRC Genk has been closely following the performance of Cercle player Félix Lemaréchal for some time. The 20-year-old Frenchman scored his first goal of the season against Genk.
There is a good chance that Bilal El Khannouss is working on his last matches for KRC Genk. To fill the gap left by his (impending) departure, one of the most important avenues is that of Félix Lemaréchal. The loan player from Monaco was a French U17 international and – just like El Khannouss – combines fast and agile feet with a big engine.
Both still have some final steps to take in their development, especially their statistics can be improved. But against KRC Genk, an unstoppable Lemaréchal scored his first goal of the season. He added his fifth assist after the break.
After the match, Lemaréchal refused to respond to Genk’s interest, he was “just very satisfied with his performance and the victory”. His coach Miron Muslic gave him a straight talk at the press conference after the match.
“I am happy for Félix that he can demonstrate his exceptional qualities at the highest level of play-off 1,” said Muslic. “He is a fantastic talent. Of course, he still has ups and downs at the age of 20, but in addition to excellent technique, he has unique physical gifts. He is the fastest Cercle player in training, while we have more than one Speedy Gonzalez in our core. He plays football instinctively: purely from his intuition, his gut feeling. (Laughs) That can sometimes drive you crazy as a coach, but it’s part of it. The move from Monaco to Cercle has made him much more complete, where the top talent has also learned to work hard on the field. He is a player with a very bright future ahead of him.”
(mg)