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As a promising 20-year-old youth product, Luca Oyen has not yet been able to fully meet the high expectations at KRC Genk, despite the great confidence of the club and the coach.
After a promising start to his career, a serious injury hampered his progress. At the beginning of last season, Oyen tore his cruciate ligament, which meant he was out for no less than eight months.
This season, the attacker is having great difficulty finding a permanent place in the team, and even getting regular playing time. Expectations remain high, but the path to success seems littered with challenges for the Genk crowd favorite.
KRC Genk’s Yari Verschaeren
With his excellent mobility, the ability to turn in either direction, and make a difference in short space, Luca Oyen is considered the Yari Verschaeren of KRC Genk. The 20-year-old youth product is a modern player who can play in various attacking positions, ranging from number 8 to 11.
What makes Oyen extra special is his enormous running ability, with him covering an average of eleven to twelve kilometers per race. “His great quality is: he makes football simple. There is an idea in everything he does, and Luca usually makes the right choices on the field,” said Koen Daerden, the technical director of the Genk youth team. Knack.
Although Oyen was ready to take on a prominent role at Genk last season, starting in the league opener against Club Brugge, disaster struck after just 25 minutes. The young attacker tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee and underwent a rehabilitation period of no less than eight months.
“This is downright bad news,” Dimitri de Condé said at the time. “Luca is a player we were counting on very much for this season. The intention was for him to take steps forward. So this is a very unfortunate incident. For himself and for the team.”
Top youth players are becoming even more important for KRC Genk
The Head of Football showed a lot of confidence in Luca Oyen by extending his contract for another five years, despite the serious injury and lengthy rehabilitation period. “The fact that the club is giving me a new contract means that despite my injury they still have a lot of confidence in me. That is very nice to know and that is why I signed up.”
Dimitri de Condé, proud of every youth player who breaks through to the first team, sees Oyen as a player who can take the team to a higher level. “It is wonderful that many of our top performers come from our training. That will become even more important in the future, because I estimate the future for clubs like us in the international transfer market to be bleak.”
The entire club was eagerly awaiting the return of 20-year-old Oyen after a difficult eight-month rehabilitation, which made him fit again at the end of last season.
Marc Degryse named Oyen as one of the five players he was looking forward to this season, alongside names such as Kasper Dolberg (Anderlecht), Hugo Vetlesen (Club Brugge), George Ilenikhena (Antwerp) and Mathias Rasmussen (Union).
The newspapaer placed Oyen in eleventh position in the list of the 50 greatest Belgian talents of the moment.
Genk crowd favorite Oyen in big trouble
Luca Oyen has not yet been able to live up to the high expectations. KRC Genk’s playing calendar is extremely demanding this season with a rapid succession of matches, in which coach Wouter Vrancken introduced a kind of rotation system.
It was remarkable that Oyen played only a limited number of times for the first team, which led to a ‘good conversation’ initiated by the young attacker with the coach. “That is an important first step,” Vrancken said.
“He is still young but has to assert himself in a large group like this. Trying to make his mark, he has the qualities for that. Because I like his profile, he will certainly get opportunities.” Oyen realized that by continuing to work hard and proving himself in training, he had to earn his place in the team.
In the match against Charleroi, Oyen played a good game and the name of the Genk crowd favorite was chanted by the crowd before the match. “I respect the coach’s choice,” said Oyen. “Of course I long for a starting place. I will continue to do everything I can during training and then I will see what choice the coach makes.”
Oyen barely gets to play under Vrancken
Although Luca Oyen claims to feel 100% fit, he believes his best form can only be achieved by playing regularly.
So far, Oyen has made eight starts this season, playing the full 90 minutes only three times and being substituted three times at half-time – against Union SG, Sint-Truiden and in the cup match against KV Oostende.
His playing time has been limited to just 21 minutes in the last five league games, and he was not even included in the selection on three occasions.
Wouter Vrancken advised Oyen to train harder and be fiercer in the duels, because he relied a little too much on his pure talent. “From now on, I have to take every opportunity to show that I am ready.”
The coach also believes that Oyen should be more dominant and get on the ball more. While progress has been made in these aspects, it has not yet resulted in a permanent place in the starting line-up or even on the substitutes bench.
The competition in his position is fierce, with the likes of Bilal El Khannouss, Anouar Ait El-Hadj, Joseph Paintsil, Christopher Bonsu Baah, Alieu Fadera and Yira Sor all vying for playing time.
