During the Victor Orta era, plenty of players came and went at Leeds United, and some even left the club without playing a single game at senior level. One of those was Dani van den Heuvel.
In the summer of 2020, van den Heuvel joined Leeds from Ajax, following the same path set for him by Pascal Struijk a couple of years prior. But van den Heuvel would never play for Leeds while in Yorkshire.
The young goalkeeper would spend four years at Elland Road, only ever making the bench four times. Once under Jesse Marsch during Leeds’ 3-1 win over Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup in January 2023.
Then, six more occasions under Daniel Farke, including the 3-2 loss to Chelsea in the same competition. But van den Heuvel’s Leeds term was bookended by broken vertebrae while he was on international duty.
Dani van den Heuvel finally makes professional debut at 22
Having failed to win a senior outing with Leeds, two-time Netherlands U21 international van den Heuvel joined Club Brugge on a two-year deal last summer. His contract had come to an end at Elland Road.
Dani van den Heuvel saves penalty on Brugge debut
But for the entirety of last season, van den Heuvel failed to play a single game for Brugge. However, that changed on Sunday afternoon in a crucial Jupiler League Pro game against Belgian rivals Royal Antwerp.
With Simon Mignolet forced off at half-time, van den Heuvel came off the bench as Brugge pushed for a winner. However, Antwerp would run out 1-0 winners, with young Argentine Mauricio Benitez scoring.
However, before that, van den Heuvel managed to save a penalty from Farouck Adekami with the score still 0-0. A convincing performance on debut for van den Heuvel, in what was his first-ever pro outing.
Elland Road “felt like home”: Van den Heuvel on leaving Leeds
Failing to play a single game and only making the bench on seven occasions in four seasons would normally be described as an out-and-out failure. But context saw van den Heuvel love his Leeds stint.
What van den Heuvel said about Leeds exit
Posting on Instagram, van den Heuvel described Elland Road as home: “4 years ago I signed my first contract for Leeds and from the first moment I stepped inside the training ground, it felt like home.”
It will be interesting to see how long Mignolet is out for, with Brugge embarking on a busy few days that starts with a last 16 Cup clash, a league game at STVV, before hosting Arsenal in the Champions League.
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