Nacer Chadli

Nacer Chadli (born 2 August 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Belgian Pro League club Westerlo.

In the summer of 2007, he was contracted by Dutch second division club AGOVV Apeldoorn, who scouted him at MVV's youth academy.

Here he was considered an emerging talent.

While Chadli was being tested by AGOVV, he went under the alias "Kaliffe", because technical manager Ted van Leeuwen was afraid other clubs would show their interest.

Chadli scored his first goal in professional football for AGOVV in a match against FC Volendam.

Chadli began his career in the Eerste Divisie with AGOVV Apeldoorn, and in 2010, was transferred to top-flight FC Twente, where he won the KNVB Cup in his first season.

Chadli played internationally for Morocco in 2010 as his father is of Moroccan descent, but switched allegiance to Belgium the following year.

In the summer of 2010, Chadli signed with FC Twente, and in the ensuing season became a first team player for the then reigning Eredivisie champions.

His first Eredivisie goal was the winning one away at title rivals PSV.

He made his European and Champions League debut in a 2–2 home draw against Internazionale on 14 September in the competition's group stage.

On 29 September, he scored his first Champions League goal away at Tottenham Hotspur (4–1), and on 2 November scored his second at Werder Bremen in a 0–2 away victory.

He later scored again in the Champions League against Tottenham from a free-kick on 7 December, the goal securing a draw for Twente at home, 3–3.

In 2013, he joined Tottenham Hotspur, and three years later signed for West Bromwich Albion for a club-record £13 million.

On 21 July 2013, Tottenham Hotspur agreed a deal with Twente to sign Chadli for a transfer fee of £7 million.

The club confirmed that subject to agreement of personal terms and a medical, Chadli would join the Spurs squad for pre-season training in Hong Kong.

On 23 July, the club confirmed that Chadli had joined the squad which was participating in training sessions prior to the club taking part in the 2013 Premier League Asia Trophy.

Chadli finally agreed terms on 26 July and became an official Tottenham player, later making his Spurs debut in a 5–2 friendly defeat to AS Monaco on 3 August.

He has earned over sixty caps for Belgium and represented the nation at the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and 2018, as well as at UEFA Euro 2020.

Chadli played his youth football at JS Thier-à-Liège, Standard Liège and MVV Maastricht.

He made his Premier League debut on 18 August, the first match of the 2013–14 season, against Crystal Palace in a 1–0 win, then scored his first Premier League goal on 12 February 2014, a 0–4 win away to Newcastle United.

On 24 August 2014, the second matchday of the 2014–15 season, Chadli scored twice as Tottenham defeated Queens Park Rangers 4–0 at home.

This was the start of a run of good form for Chadli, who went on to score several goals, including one against Tottenham's North London rivals Arsenal.

The run of form, however, was cut short by injury, and before he could return to form, tragedy struck his family after his father died.

Chadli slowly returned to form, scoring two goals in two matches against Newcastle United and Southampton, respectively, in late April to take his season total to 12, ten in the Premier League.

Chadli increased his tally to 11 Premier League goals by rounding the goalkeeper in a 2–0 victory against Hull City on 16 May 2015.

On 29 August 2016, West Bromwich Albion agreed a deal with Tottenham Hotspur to sign Chadli for a club-record transfer fee of £13 million.

He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Bournemouth.

Chadli scored twice and got two assists on his home debut, only his second league appearance for the club which ended as a 4–2 win over West Ham United.

In 2017–18, Chadli was troubled by recurring thigh injuries and made only three appearances by the end of April in a West Bromwich Albion side that was eventually relegated.

Totalling five appearances, he scored once, a free kick in a 1–1 draw at Leicester City on 16 October 2017.

On 30 August 2018, Monaco announced the signing of Chadli on a three-year deal.

They paid more than €12 million to West Bromwich Albion to secure the services of the multipurpose midfielder.

At the club he was united with fellow Belgium national team player, Youri Tielemans.

Chadli competed in the Champions League with Monaco.

In Ligue 1, however, he had an unsuccessful season, as Monaco struggled against relegation from the league throughout the competition, only securing it at the end of the season.

At Monaco, Chadli played only 1,058 minutes and neither scored a goal or made an assist in all competitions.

On 11 August 2019, Chadli joined Anderlecht on a season-long loan from Monaco after having been sidetracked at the French club.

Player-manager Vincent Kompany was able to persuade Chadli in coming to the Belgian First Division A.

After Kompany and Simon Mignolet, he was the third Belgian international to return to Belgium to play.

Anderlecht took over his entire contract (more than € 230,000 gross per month) from Chadli at Monaco.