At nine years old, Dennis Praet had a decision to make that would shape his future professional career in the sporting world. A keen tennis player, the Belgium native was also progressing through Genk’s academy system after spending his formative years at SJV Motbroek and the club that became OH Leuven, now owned by King Power International. Soon to be a graduate of Anderlecht famed academy, his footballing journey commenced alongside a passion for another sport. He may have had to choose between football and tennis, but since then, only one has remained at the forefront of Praet’s mind.
“I started playing football when I was four or five-years-old, so at a very young age,” the Leuven-born midfielder began. We're speaking within LCFC Training Ground, the state-of-the-art training facility and base that Praet and his team-mates call home. “Together with tennis, I started those two sports. From that age, they saw already that I had a lot of feeling with the ball.
“I was very sporty, so that’s why my parents let me go off playing sports at a very early stage. I started in a very small regional team playing football and having tennis lessons. That continued until I was nine and then the first teams in Belgium from Anderlecht and Genk picked up my talent, so they tried to get me to them.
“That’s the moment I also had to choose between tennis and football. Obviously, I chose football and that was because those teams were a one-hour drive away, so when you’re nine years old, you go to school and afterwards you have to go to a training session. There was no time for playing tennis anymore.
“I made that decision to go and play football. It's maybe because I was a very bad loser when I was doing sport alone, and in a team it’s a bit different, so I could keep my calmness a bit. In tennis, when I lost some games, I became really angry and killed some tennis rackets!
“I was losing my focus sometimes because I was a very hard winner. That was maybe another thing that made me chose football. It was always in me. I was always very hungry to be the best, to make something of it. That was from being five years old. I was a winner and I couldn’t stand losing.”
Backed by his family, Praet’s emerging footballing abilities went from strength to strength. His development continued further during seven years with KRC Genk, located within the eastern-based province of Limburg.
“My parents always supported me very heavily in this,” he continued, telling the tale of a journey through the ranks at Genk from 2003 to 2010. “Especially my father, who was also sporty, not in high levels, but he fully supported me in all those things. From the age of nine, I took a small van that picked up all the talents in the region. Every day at that time, I travelled on it to Genk to train and come back, until I got to secondary school and went to school in Genk.
“In the morning, at 7 o’clock, they would pick me up and drop me back at 9 o’clock in the evening, so they were very long days. Everything was for football. I never regretted it and I always liked it.
“The efforts I had to make from that age until 18, 19, when you start to live alone, I did it without any hesitation and it was never [a chore], I never had that feeling. It was intense, but it made me the person who I am now.
“There are still some exceptional talents who can make it without maybe the best mentality, but for most of the players, I would say 90-95 per cent, you have to have a good mentality to become a professional player.”
His choices, and dedication, were vindicated and another important decision would soon shape the path of his future career.
“At the age of 16, I was still at Genk and then it was the moment to make a decision – to sign my first pro-contract,” the Belgian said, reflecting on how his move to Anderlecht came about. “There were different teams that I had visited: Genk wanted to keep me, there was Anderlecht, I even went to Arsenal to visit the training ground and Lille, the French team.
“We visited four or five different teams and, in the end, we made the choice for Anderlecht because I wasn’t finished with school and that, for me, was one of the most important things - to finish my schooling and get my diploma. That made the choice to go to Anderlecht. Within one and a half years, I was in the first team and starting my professional career there.”
By 2011, Praet had debuted in the Belgian Pro League, making his bow as a substitute in a 4-0 success over Lierse in October 2011. Six further appearances during 2011/12, all from the bench, included appearing alongside future Foxes centre-back Marcin Wasilewski.
It’s a current Foxes player and international team-mate of Praet who stands out most from his time there, however. Belgium connections continue to run through the squad today, with Timothy Castagne and Wout Faes also joining the Club in recent years.
“I played for a few years with Youri [Tielemans] at Anderlecht,” he explained. “He’s a few years younger than me, so I was there already a bit before him, but from the moment he came there, you saw that he was an amazing player.
“Of course, I spoke with him before coming here and he was very positive about the Club and everything. That helped the decision. We also meet with each other in the national team.
“Even with Wout, I trained with him at Anderlecht. He never played in the first team with me, but I knew him from there. We spoke with each other before he arrived here and I think everybody knows that we are still very close together, of course.
“We are Belgian, we speak the same language, so that’s normal. It’s nice to have a few Belgians around here and it’s a great atmosphere. It helps if you feel good in a team straight away.
“That was shown with Wout from his first game, first moment, he was there, and he kept his performances up and the same with Timothy. It’s good that we were there, and we could straight away take them under our wing. They have performed great.”
They are not the only Belgian quartet to make a name for themselves in England’s top division. Although things have not always gone quite so smoothly on the international stage, the talent continues to roll through.
City’s No.26 outlined: “I think we have a very exceptional generation at the moment. [Eden] Hazard, [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Romelu] Lukaku, [Thibaut] Courtois, they all played in the Premier League and are all top 10 players in the world. Now there are some young Belgium lads still going into the Premier League and performing.
“It’s a good period in Belgian football and we’ve also shown that a bit at the previous EURO and World Cup. I hope for Belgium that they can keep producing those talents like they have been doing in the last 10 years.”
By 2012/13, Praet was a regular starter in Anderlecht’s midfield. It was a season which brought several milestones for the youngster - featuring in the UEFA Champions League for the first time and opening his goalscoring account for the club.
Standout performances in Belgium and European competitions earned the midfielder a move to Serie A. Sampdoria was the destination, a place he called home for three years before Leicester City came calling. That determination discovered at five years old remains strong in Praet’s character.
“When I was playing in Italy,” he continued, “every year the Premier League was growing, getting more famous, getting better. All of the best players go there, so I think every young player would love to get a chance to play in the Premier League one day.
“When the opportunity comes, it has to be the right team. Leicester for me was the right team with my style of play. It was growing, they have very good owners, a very good way of playing, not a very long-ball, physical team, they want to build up, they want to press. That was important for me in my decision.
“In football, it’s very difficult to set a path that you want to follow, because it can go from here and there. I’ve also been loaned to Torino one year, so you don’t know what will happen in football.
“Of course, I want to enjoy football as long as I play. I want to play as much as I can and get as many wins as possible, because that’s the best feeling, that’s what makes you happy.
“I still have that [drive] for sure. Sometimes it makes it difficult. I want to play everything, and I want to play more. Sometimes you’re fighting a bit against yourself if you don’t play enough, but I always have my family to go back to if I feel a bit low. The winning mentality will always be there and will never go away.”
As for tennis, he hasn’t picked up a racket since that day, at least not a traditional one. It’s inside the players’ recreation room, with its array of darts, pool and games consoles, that the topic of conversation shifts back to other activities in his life, and a new racket sport which is taking up some of his free time.
“I must say that from the moment I stopped playing tennis when I was nine years old, I have almost never played it again,” Praet admitted. “Now I sometimes play a bit of golf, that’s very popular in England, but I’m still on the driving range a lot because I’m still learning, or a bit of pádel.”
Photographer and interviewer alike look quizzically at the suggestion of playing the sport, which is big hit in Europe. A colleague helps Praet out in explaining the concept and several Instagram videos later, they are soon on board.
“It’s so strange that you don’t know pádel,” he exclaimed. “I will show you. It’s a mix between badminton and tennis in a squash court. You can run out of the court, so sometimes you can hit it very hard and it goes outside. You can also hit it back off the glass. It’s funny that you’ve never heard of it!
“We’ve seen in England not so many people know about it, but it’s getting very popular in Europe. Now in Belgium everyone is playing. We (the Belgian players) often go to play. We don’t too much because it can be intense, but on a day off, we’ve already been playing some games together.
“It’s really nice. If you start playing it, you will love it.”