Theo Leoni spoke about his exit from Anderlecht on LN24. He says he was particularly disappointed by the financial offer from the club that trained him.
The player says he was one of the first to be offered a new contract by Olivier Renard. But Anderlecht then wanted to adjust its financial strategy. “I’m very attached to the club and they knew that too,” he added.
“With the seasons I’d played, I couldn’t earn just half of what my direct rivals in that position earn,” he said, according to VoetbalPrimeur. He also says there was “not even a negotiation”: the club made him an offer, far from his expectations, and that was that.
Leoni now plays for Reims, under contract until the summer of 2030. He reckons academy graduates are often paid less because they’re happy just to reach the first team, whereas a club has to talk a new signing into joining. For him, what happens on the pitch is what counts.
Freddy, who has run his own wage structure for years, read all this on Monday, ledger open on the clubhouse table.
Tactically, I get the lad. At my place too, the club’s youngsters earn less than the summer signing: he got a brand new sports bag, they kept their brother’s. And if one of them tells me there was no negotiation, I tell him neither have I, the chairman’s never offered me one either. But he only talks about it in the conditional, so that counts. And what happens on the pitch, he’s right, that’s what should matter most. Except on mine, with the slope, every season should count double. A flat pitch away, it’s the same file, mind you.
It’s true, we checked: VoetbalPrimeur.be.
