Old Trafford Return Special For De Laet

Although only playing a handful of times, De Laet enjoyed a number of loan spells that aided his development en route to the Foxes, but he knows there will be no room for sentiment on the day as City look for another win to go with their 5-3 triumph in September. 

“It’s going to be great going back,” De Laet told Foxes Player. “Obviously Old Trafford is a great ground, so going back will be special. I’ve got some friends there as well, which will be nice to see them too.” 

After beginning his career in Belgium with Royal Antwerp, De Laet arrived in England as a teenager with Stoke City. However after a frustrating couple of seasons with the Potters that saw opportunities limited, Manchester United came knocking. 

De Laet recalled: “I was at Stoke, I didn’t really get a chance there and was ready to go back to Belgium really. It was hard, and I didn’t have any family over, just my wife. 

“It was tough not playing the games that I was used to in the season before, so I called my agent, told him I was ready to go back to Belgium, then he came up with Manchester United, which I laughed about for about 10 minutes before putting the phone down. Then he called me back to say it was real. I went there and it was a dream come true. 

“I went there and was with the Under-21s under Warren Joyce, who was my manager at Antwerp and gave me my debut there. He took me under his wing, but it was still special being there with all those players. I’ve moved on from that now. 

“The experience the players there have, you learn from them every day. Even if you’re not playing the games, you keep learning every day, so it was a special time, but I couldn’t play Under-21s football forever, so I had to move on.”